Halloween Special: Unwelcome in Nightmoore

It felt like they'd been walking through realities into different dimensions all day. Kinan had of course made very little mention of where they were going, as was her way, but as they stepped through the next portal, Arch and Graelyn gawked a little. There were big orange and black streamers up everywhere, jack-o-lanterns beaming out from every doorstep, and fall leaves all over the ground blowing lightly in a faint but ominous breeze. It was chilly, but not too chilly, but most importantly of all, there were people rushing around in costumes. Graelyn's face lit up, and Kinan looked at her expectantly, still not changing her facial expression."What is it.""Its "A Nightmare Before Christmas" land!" Graelyn said like she was four."You mean Halloween.""Sure whatever! Can we stop and look around at this one?" Kinan looked down at her, and somehow without moving her facial muscles in any discernible way managed to look exasperated."Sure. Whatever." She monotoned back."I mean, we can arrive wherever in time or space or reality we need to so it doesn't matter if we take a detour.""Yes." Kinan replied, "There isn't that much to do here though. We call this reality Nightmoore.""Excuse me," Arch said, "Graelyn, why are you excited so much? Kinan, why is it called Nightmoore and not like... Halloweentown or something?" The two of them looked back at Arch, and exchanged glances."Well, That's actually a really good question. Why isn't it called Halloweentown? That's what it was called in a Nightmare before Christmas." Kinan looked around at the decorations, and walked over to a stand that appeared to be selling candied apples. The vendor, a nice old lady in a witch outfit, asked Kinan how many she wanted, and she looked back at Graelyn and Arch."None for me." Arch said."But yes for Graelyn." Graelyn said. Kinan held up a thumb and forefinger, and the lady got out one apple, to which Kinan shook her head and said, "Two." The lady corrected, and handed Kinan two apples, taking one over to Graelyn."The long and short of it is that "Halloweentown" is copyrighted by Centro Holiday Systems in this universe." Graelyn had been about to take a bite out of her apple, but stopped and looked up to see if Kinan was joking, before finding out that she still had the same damn facial non-expression."Sorry, did you say Centro Holiday Systems?" Arch asked."Yes." Kinan took a bite out of her apple, chewed it properly, swallowed, and responded. "There are a series of towns, each one centered around a different Holiday in this reality-" Graelyn began faintly singing "this is Halloween" and Kinan waited for her to stop, which she did, awkwardly. "-and Centro Holiday Systems owns the rights to their holidays and their terminology. We refuse to recognize the enforced names of oppressive regimes as a rule of thumb. So its Nightmoore.""Welcome to Nightmoore." Arch muttered."But they're about to have Halloween here right? I'd love to go trick or treating.""Even here there is usually an age cut off.""I've never gone trick or treating though." Graelyn said. Kinan stared at her, again."Fine. Lets get you costumes." They strolled through the city streets, a man without a head riding by on a horse, tossing a pumpkin head up in the air and catching it."I really don't know what Halloween is." Arch whispered to Graelyn, "Why are you so excited about it?""Its my third favorite holiday after Incorporation day and Alexander Hamilton's birthday-- and its really similar to Alexander's birthday in that children go around dressed up in costume, only they don't go to all the banks for a free share of a company of their choice, they go to different people's houses dressed up to get Candy!""Huh. I mean, I guess if you're showing all the skin you guys are-""- you mean any, don't you.""Well, yes, but with all the skin you guys are showing it would be nice to have a holiday to cover it all up.""The Candy and the getting to pretend to be a different person for a few hours are the really exciting bits for most people.""Oh, huh." Arch said. They were passed by a group of girls dressed up as what looked like the Justice league (Batman had a tutu), their feet making little clompy sounds on the cobblestone streets. Kinan led them into another business, through a clothes size scanner at the doorway, where tons of costumes lined the walls. There was every sort of costume you could imagine: Graelyn recognized ones from movies and books, brain implant stories and video games. She ran her fingers through the fabrics, feeling the contrast of the silky dresses and the rough feeling of fake plastic silk. There was everything she could imagine. Graleyn smiled back at Arch, "What are you going to be Arch?""Er, I don't know. This isn't really something I've thought about.""Don't you have a character you really relate to?""Maybe, but I'm not sure who I'd want to dress up as them... Who was that guy you mentioned earlier? With the birthday?""Alexander Hamilton? First secretary of the treasury of the ancient United States of America?""Sure, I'll be him." Kinan looked over at the counter where a teenage girl chewing bubble gum was reading a comic book, and occasionally scratching her head through her Afro."Do you have a Hamilton Costume?" She asked. The girl popped a bubble, looked over at her computer monitor, and asked it. The costume's location popped up on the register, and she pressed a button. The costume lowered down from an upper rack, the perfect size (which was impressive considering Arch's larger than normal stature.) Graelyn kept looking. There were tons of characters to choose from, and she felt like she had a lifetime of costume choosing to make up for. She needed to pick a perfect one.

Graelyn looked out the window at the children walking around outside. She knew from her father had told her that Halloween wasn't originally a holiday Russia celebrated, but that with the globalization of Centro Systems, it was now a part of their yearly lives. She looked back down at the textbook on her tablet and tried to focus. The porch light was off, so no one came to their door, but Graelyn had positioned herself so she could see through the window. It wasn't the best place for focusing, but she wanted to see the other children. There was Dmitri, and there was Katya... They were dressed as superheroes she couldn't quite place. She saw some children she didn't know who were 100% princesses."How is the chapter coming Graelyn?" Her mom yelled from the other room."Fine." She said, and got back to reading. Another Halloween indoors. Then her eyes spotted it. From the corner of her eye she saw the girl go by, and Graelyn felt her heart clench in her chest. Jealousy rose up her throat. She wanted to be her.

Her hands stopped. The black fabric in her hands was soft, and her hands trembled a little as she held it. It wasn't her size, but she drifted back through the rack till she found one that a sudden hologram projection of a cartoon jack-o-lantern told her would fit. From the next rack, she pulled off her accessories, and told Kinan to pay while she ran into the changing room. She threw off her clothes as fast as she could, and put on the outfit. She nearly got it all the way on, but couldn't get it zipped up in the back, naturally. When could she ever get it zipped up in the back by herself? She was already looking at herself delighted."Can someone come Zip me?" The door to the changing room opened slightly, and Kinan slipped in."Kinan." Graelyn said amazed, "I didn't think you'd be dressing up to.""I thought it would be in the spirit of the thing, since you care so much about it." She monotoned. She was dressed in some sort of Japanese outfit, with her sword still in its usual place at her side. Little red lines were on her cheeks."You're a witch." Kinan said."Not just any witch!" Graelyn delighted, "Elphalba!" She held up a can of spray on green skin coloring."I'm not familiar.""You know, the Wicked Witch of the West.""Ah. The villain.""Sort of, I mean, have you seen Wicked?""No.""I think she's just misunderstood.""Right." Said Kinan."Who are you anyways?""You don't recognize me?" Graelyn shook her head. "I'm Seshomeru.""Who?""From Inu Yasha. One of the all time classics of Anime." Graelyn blinked repeatedly."Well, I'm glad you found a costume. Zip?" Kinan helped her get the back of the dress zipped up, and then Graelyn sprayed the dye all over her skin. It colored her skin perfectly, without leaving any residue. Hopefully it came out easily.Graelyn emerged from the room, to see Arch in full colonial American garb, wig included. She grinned ear to ear, and looked him up to down quite pleased."I read up on this Alexander Hamilton on the web while you were in there. Interesting guy. Lots of articles saying he was not throwing away his shot, whatever that means." Graelyn Grabbed her broomstick, and bustled over to his side, putting her arm around his, her skirts shifting around pleasantly."Then we're all ready to go. Ready to go trick or treating?""Of course, Elphalba.""You knew!""No, I just heard you practically yell it from the changing room and looked her up also." She laughed."Lets get going then."

The three of them strolled around Nightmoore, checking out the plethora of Costumes. "Look there's the 16th Doctor!" Graelyn noted, "and the 15th, and the 3rd and 12th. So many.""This is an incredible place. Did you see that house with the robotic skeleton choir?""Hard to miss it. Are you having fun?" she looked back at Kinan. Kinan shrugged."Its hard to have fun. I'm always noticing parallels. You see enough alternate worlds, the patterns seep in. I haven't spent a lot of time here, it doesn't have much strategic value to the war, I suppose I'm learning about it." Above them a black crane nearly invisible in the darkness held aloft a grim reaper with real moving wings, and Graelyn spun as she walked letting her dress swirl, and she hummed a few chords of "Defying Gravity."They went up to the next door, and Graelyn and Arch knocked, "Trick or treat!" They said in unison. The door opened, and a man dressed up as Count Olaf opened the door and dropped some candy in Graelyn's bucket."Yes, Twizzlers." She said as they walked away."We can just buy whatever candy you want when we leave you know." Kinan noted."Oh, don't be a spoil sport." As if on cue, a crying child ran past."I did not converse with that child.""I know." Graelyn said, and lifted her skirts up to run towards where the child came from. There were lots of kids trying to make their way around an older teen who was standing with a gang of cronies at the corner. She stopped them every so often, and her cronies would take the candy out of the kid's pails."Hey what are you doing?" Graelyn yelled at the girl, who turned to look at her, and Graelyn skidded to a halt. There at the corner was Graelyn Scythes, dressed as Ayn Rand."Oh come on." She said."And who do you think you are?""The Wicked Witch of the West." Ayn Scythes pushed her glasses up towards her nose, just as Elphalba Scythes did. They then tilted their heads to the side while raising an eye brow in unison."You can't take candy from children.""The right to take is one given to the strong. It is only parasites who sink so low as to offer another lesser being the fruits they rightfully earned for themselves." Graelyn looked at her angrily."You're really ruining my night. I wouldn't do that!""Well I would, as your better." Elphalba rolled her eyes, and then saw someone gesturing to her from the bushes across the road. She couldn't make them out clearly. Elphalpba pointed a finger at Ayn Rand."I'll be back." Ayn Rand just laughed at her as she walked off. Arch and Kinan trailed her lazily as she walked behind the bushes, to find Alice MacLeod behind them. She was dressed as an 18th century Sans-Culette woman from the French revolution, complete with plastic sword and striped skirts. Her head had a cloth wrapped around it with a rosette with the French tricolors pinned to it. Next to her was Jack, who was dressed as Luke Skywalker."I see you're also standing up to Graelyn Scythes, the big bully." Graelyn sighed, and nodded, "apparently so.""Jack and I have been planning a sort of... Revolt against her terrorism of the kids in this neighborhood." Graelyn looked back at Arch and Kinan a bit incredulously. Kinan made no move, while Arch shrugged, a question mark appearing on his face. "Of course, it will be difficult you know. She has that goon squad around her at all times...""I can take them out." Kinan said."Wait-- you mean beat them up? No that's-- whoa hold up there.""Sorry I just thought you were all about violent revolution.""This is Halloween not the raiding of the palace of Versailles by the Sans-Culette on October 5th 1789." Kinan shrugged. "Okay. Whatever.""We have a plan though, but most of the kids are too scared to stand up to her. With your help, and your mom's help," she said pointing at Kinan, "we can surely stop this." Jack actually looked more terrified than most of the kids who were running away, but Graelyn didn't mention that."Lets get some apple cider while we talk this over." Alice said pointing at a cart, and they meandered over, Graelyn picked up the cup. "I'm in." Said Arch, "I'm not that familiar with your customs, but it seems to me like taking candy from children is wrong. Probably.""Of course I'm in to.""Whatever my kids need." Said Kinan with the driest sarcasm that had ever been spoken in that Universe."Awesome!" Arch's face lit up with fireworks. "Wait," Alice continued, "Can he light up his whole body like that?""Of course I can." Alice grinned, "Change of plans. Lets toast to our plot then! Grab another cup." Graelyn picked up a cup from the cart and promptly crushed the paper cup on accident, splattering herself with cider."Oh, ugh." She could feel it all over her face. Alice and Jack were looking at her, agast. "What?" And looked down to see the cider had washed the green dye out of the skin it had touched."I swear you look just like Graelyn Scythes." Arch giggled."What a crazy co-incidence.""Second new plan.""What was your first plan?""Well, give her laxative chocolate. But this will be much better."

* * * *Ayn Rand Graelyn Scythes shoved Batman, and she staggered back, trying to hold her tutu in place."I said you're giving me your candy. Its my right to take it from you. Unrestrained capitalism or whatever." The girl wiped a tear and held her bucket out, Ayn reached out to take it, and then a booming voice came from overhead."Is this really the true meaning of Capitalism? Ho ho ho." There was a slight silence, as though someone was correcting him, "Ignore the ho ho ho." From the sky came the glowing ghost of Alexander Hamilton.Ayn Scythes gasped, "Its Alexander Hamilton, first treasury secretary of the ancient united states of America!""Ho ho ho, yes it is." Alexander said, dropping money on the crowd below. "And you've been a very naughty girl!""No I haven't!" Ayn yelled. "I"m observing the right of those who create to enjoy the labors of those who merely produce.""If you know anything about me, then you know that I was all about the ability of a person to make their own life. I was one one of the few founding fathers of the Ancient United States who supported the abolition of slavery. You," he said pointing down at her, "are a corruption of all my ideals!"Ayn Scythes looked horrified, then her face stiffened."You're not really Alexander Hamilton, you're just some guy in a costume.""This is Halloween, all saints day, when the veil between this world and the next is thinned. And I, the ghost of Treasure Secretary Alexander Hamilton, am here to show you your fate if you don't heed my warning."Ayn squinted up, "I think I can see a crane up there.""Silence! I wrote two thirds of the Federalist papers! Heed my warnings!"Ayn Scythes scoffed, but then from the shadows at the end of the block came a shambling figure."Graelyn?" A hollow voice said. Ayn looked around, and her posse formed up around her. "Alexander is right. Listen to him." She saw herself, Graelyn Scythes dressed as Ayn Rand walking towards her. She took a step back. That was impossible."I'm here from your future. Ruin will come to you if you do not heed our warning." Her posse promptly moved behind her, real brave bunch."You can't be real. You're just a hologram or..." The figure walked closer, real as the day, its eyes looked hollow and sunken."You will suffer a fate worse than death." Ayn gasped."Government oversight?""What? Er... YES WOOO So much Government oversight!" Ayn shuddered, then straightened her spine."You're just wearing a spray on face aren't you? The water soluble kind right? You liars."She grabbed a cup of cider from a passerby, and threw it on the other herself.The other-self screamed, and the skin indeed did melt away to reveal a bloody face filled with maggots and puss. It opened its maw and leaned in towards her, bloody teeth bared. She screamed, and began to run the other way as fast as she could."Leave the candy you took! Hamilton commands it!" The ghost said as Graelyn and her posse ran away into the night. Graelyn pulled the bloody silicon mask that they'd sprayed her own face over off, and laughed, "We did it Alice!" Alice charged out, toy sword in hand, and cried to the crowd."The tyrant is overthrown! Let no one harass our candy gathering again!" To which the crowd naturally cheered for, and then left to go scrambling through the buckets of candy Ayn Rand had taken from them. Alexander Hamilton's crane lowered, and Kinan walked out from behind the controls to go unhook him from the harness."Two of my favorite holidays at once!" Graelyn said, hugging Arch."Happy HalloHamilton day, I guess."Alice ran up to them and basically tackled them in a hug as well. "I never thought we could be free of her tyranny! Maybe we can do even more next year.""Oh, I bet you will. Its in your nature."Kinan moved out of the way as a kid dressed as Iron man went by."Are you ready to go?""I barely go to trick or treat. Won't it be the same time where we go next no matter when we go through the portal if you want it to?" Kinan stared stoically."Don't eat so much you get sick." Graelyn grinned, "Time to change then.""Wait, one question." Alice whispered in Graelyn's ear, "Why is he dressed as Alexander Hamilton, it sounds like he only learned who he was today." Graelyn smirked with a shrug."Oh, Hamilton was my first crush. I thought it would be fun if he dressed up as him. I laid the idea out there subtly.""You know Hamilton basically invented wall street as well as the financial--""Yes, look, I know you're Alice MacLeod, and that is totally the kind of thing you'd say from my experience, but he was also an outsider, a poor immigrant who suffered tons of hardships as a child and overcame them to rise to great things." She looked down at her Elphalba costume. "Misunderstood." She thought about the other Graelyn, somewhere off in the night. "Or maybe I just need to believe they're misunderstood. Come on, lets get some candy."

Thanks for joining us! Happy Halloween to all of you out there! Just make sure you stay on the good side of the the ghost of Alexander Hamilton this year :). Next week we'll be back with another fun adventure starring Mister Sprinkles the Cat!

Welcome to another Hiatus bonus story of 10kd! This was requested by you guys long ago, but lost out in voting to the Adventures of Mister Sprinkles the Cat. I thought I'd bring it to life for you guys!If you haven't heard, this Saturday is the 10kd Halloween Special so please come by and take a read or a listen to it :)! Its going to be FANTASTIC. -Jim -- Art this week by Raen NguOct 31st: 10,000 Dawns Halloween Special, art by Annie ZhuNov 5th: The Adventures of Mister Sprinkles the Cat SequelNov 12th: Jame Morrel StoryNov 19th: (return to normal schedule) 10,000 Dawns Chapter 16

Bonus Story #3: Knights and Dragons

The horse was exhausted, he’d ridden it too hard that day, but the urge to get where he was going had pushed away his sense. They were moving at a slot trot now, towards the fire in the distance. “Easy girl, we’ll rest up soon.” He patted her gently on the neck, wishing it was without his gauntlets. Finally, they were close enough to the fire he could see a lone figure sitting by it, who rose, a hand on the hilt of a blade. “Stop. State who you are.” “Sir Archimides of the House Ahnerabe. I’d like to use your fire if you don’t mind, my horse and I can’t travel much farther.” The figure looked them up and down, and then nodded. “You can tie your horse up by mine. There is a pond by the tree it can drink from if you leave the rope slack enough. You’re welcome to the stew as well. You try anything funny and I’ll gut you.” Fair enough. The figure’s voice was funny, higher than he expected. Still, no complaints from him. He tied Esmerelda up at the tree, grabbed a bowl and spoon from his saddlebag and clomped over to the fire. The figure was in fact a woman. She had red hair, cut short to fit under the helmet laying beside her, and the look of someone who had been in a lot of sword fights, with the nicks and scars of swordplay visible over her form. Arch ladled out some soup, sat down on a rock (she had already taken a convenient tree stump) and awkwardly began to spoon soup in through the visor gap in his helmet. She looked at him like he was an imbecile. “You know, you can take your helmet off.” He swallowed the spoonful of stew and shook his head. “No, I can’t. That’s why I’m going this way. I’m sure you know what’s at the end of this road.” She got up, stirred the stew, and ladled herself another serving.” “You tell me.” As if on cue, another figure began to approach through the darkness. Both of them reached for their swords. The woman called out again, “Stop. Who goes there.” The approaching figure stopped for a moment, as if unsure, and then replied, “Just a bard passing through, looking for coin or a fire.” The woman glanced at Arch again. “Come closer.” Then approached another woman, this one in garb most bizarre. She wore a long brown coat, on the breast of which there was an emblem of a sun and a moon that had crossed their forms together. Her blonde hair was shaved completely along the left side of her head all the way from the temple down, and the rest was combed over to drop down to the other side falling just below her jawline.

“What’s your name, Bard?” The woman kept approaching. “I’m Kinan Jans. I hope you don’t mind my intrusion.” The red head gestured for her to take a seat, “What are your names?” She asked plainly. “I’m Lady MacLeod, the Knight of the Songbird. This is sir Archimedes of the House Ahnerabe. My squire is around here… Somewhere.” She trailed off at the end into a grumble. “I’m pleased to meet you both.” Said Kinan in the same monotone she said everything in. “You’re welcome to the stew. Jack made too much, again.” Kinan’s face showed no tell, but her eyes to arch showed a flash of recognition. “Jack would be your squire then?” Songbird nodded. “And you, Sir Archimedes, I see you’re still wearing your armor. Songbird here took it all off. Do you know something I don’t about her?” Arch shook his head, “I can’t, er, actually take it off. That’s why I’m here.” “You were saying that before she arrived.” Songbird said, gesturing at Kinan with her spoon. “So, why can’t you get out of your armor then?” Arch sighed. “Well, you see I’ve been cursed by the queen of this land. I accidentally insulted her taste in wine, and she lay a spell on my that makes it so that I cannot leave my suit of armor till I complete a task she set for me.” Arch said. “Then we’re on our way to the same place, I’d wager.” Alice replied, “You’re off to rescue the Queen’s daughter from the Dragon’s tower aren’t you?” He nodded in reply. “Then are we at cross purposes?” “Lady Songbird, I just want this curse released. If you’re after the reward, you can have it.” “I am.” She said. “Lady Songbird!” Another voice yelled, “I found some berries for us!” “Jack.” Kinan said. “Yes.” Songbird replied. He approached with a bowl chock full of blackberries, which the four of them split between them. Songbird reintroduced everyone, and they settled back in. “So then, bard, why don’t you sing us a song?” Kinan stared at Songbird. Songbird stared at Kinan. Jack and Arch glanced between them. “Sure.” Kinan replied. “I must warn you though, I never said I was a good bard.”“Okay, I get the part about ‘do a little dance, make a little love’ , but what exactly does ‘get down tonight’ mean?” Arch whispered. “Heck if I know.” Songbird replied. They had been riding for some time now, Kinan walking beside their horses. She was wearing unusual white pants, but they didn't seem to be being stained by the mud. Sir Arch didn't know who their guest was, but he was fairly certain she wasn't actaully a bard. They'd have to keep an eye on her.“There it is!” Songbird said, pointing over the hill the were cresting at the tower that was rising into view. “The Dragon's tower, if we can get in there and slay the dragon together, then get the princess out safely, we can get everything we need.”“You say 'need', not want.” Kinan noted, and held her gaze up at Alice.“I have people who need this money more than I do. I am responsible for them.” Songbird checked her sword. “They need me. And Arch needs to get out of his armor. So need.” Kinan nodded. “Why exactly are you here then?” Kinan narrowed her eyes as Alice reached down to reassure her horse.“I'm here,” she began, “to find knights who are going to take on this Dragon. I'm looking for new stories, after all. Oh the songs they will sing, etcetera.” Alice scrunched her lips to the left. Sure, right.“You do know no knights have returned alive from the tower, right?” Kinan nodded.“All the better the song will be if you succeed then.”They rode down the sloping hill to the tower, which loomed over them. It wasn't actually a very old tower, it looked like it had been constructed recently and fairly hastily (recently for a tower, so maybe a decade ago, maybe a decade and a half). The walls were no nonsense rough stone blocks which rose up to a equally simple parapit at the top. There was no ornamentation on the tower, and no door. Only a charred archway large enough for two people to walk abreast, abet cramped with their shoulders rubbing.“So this is it.” Alice said, “I'm not sure what I expected.”“It looks awful simple for a tower. There's hardly any ornamentation on the thing.” Arch said.“If by hardly you mean 'none'.” Kinan finished. They knew she was right.“Tell me bard, in songs of Dragons, don't the beasts usually prefer rich and ornamented places to make their foul nests?” Kinan nodded.“That's fairly regular in most western mythology about dragons.”“Western?” Arch asked.“Forget it.” Kinan said.“Right, so... I guess we need to head in.” They rode their horses to a tree, and tied them up, and put feed bags on them, then changed their minds and let the horses loose (“If we don't come out, no use letting them die.” Alice said) together they gathered outside the entrance and looked into the darkness beyond.“So, do we want to draw straws or what?” Arch asked. Alice rolled her eyes, put her helmet on, and stepped into the unknown.Her boots clanked on the stone floor. Even so, she moved carefully. Arch followed her, and Kinan took up the end of the line. Alice half expected traps as she walked, but the only change they found was when her foot crunched down instead of clanked. They Stopped, and she reached down, and felt the remains of a skull.“What is it?” Arch whispered.“The last group of unfortunates.”“Ah.” They felt along the walls and creeped through the hall, till eventually they hit a set of stairs. They carefully advanced upwards, and found themselves in a circular room that took up the whole floor of the tower. Scorch marks like the walls, and a few slits in the walls let in air and fading sunlight. A blackened steel ladder descended from a cloased trap door in the ceiling. They stepped into the room, and examined it. Something struck Songbird as odd about the room, but she couldn't quite place it.“Looks like the only way is up.” Arch said. He was right, of course. “I'll take first this time.” Arch climbed the ladder, and when he reached the trapdoor took a deep breath and turned a handle on it to undo the latch. He pushed up, and the other two follow him as he signaled it was safe. Arch climbed up into a girl's bedroom, the bedroom of a girl who had been there a long time. Old stuffed animals sat on a shelf, as well as tons of books that varied across the age spectrum wildly. A set of iron doors with a latch were set into one wall, and directly across from it was a large four poster bed complete with canopy where a teenage girl sat wearing a beautiful an ornate blue dress. Her hair was black: long and intricately braided. One one of her shoeless ankles was a thick shackle leading to a big chain. That was anchored into the wall. She didn't look as happy to see him as he'd expected. He climbed up and bowed, as Alice and Kinan scrambled up behind him.“Princess, my name is Sir Achimedes of the House Ahnerabe. This is Lady Songbird and the Bard Kinan. We've come to rescue you.” The girl smiled politely.“Okay, well, thanks for coming. But actually you should all leave. No rescuing needed, sorry!” Alice looked down at her ankle.“It doesn't look like you aren't in need of rescuing, to be blunt.” She said.“Really? I like it here. Its a very nice tower. Look, there is even a bookshelf. No need to worry.” She awkwardly made a gesture with her arms spread wide as if to say “this is all I need!”“Princess, please, you've been here a long time. There's a whole big world out there for you to explore.”“Nope, I'm fine. Seen that world. Not my thing. Personally this room is the best.” Kinan began walking through the room, examining the walls.“There is literally a dragon keeping you here.” Arch said, “It eats people.”“Yes!” The Princess said angrily, “It does, so get out of here before it returns. Do you know how many heroes have come here to rescue me? I've lost count. I really have. They've all died because they're stubborn like you and won't leave.” The princess ran to the iron doors and swung one open, revealing a balcony and the sunset.“The dragon will be here when its night. You need to leave. The dragon will kill you.” Arch shook his head.“So that's why you're pretending you like it here. You're tired of people dying for you.” The princess looked even angrier, and on the edge of panic.“Please, please you have to leave right now.” She ran up to them and unsuccessfully began to try to force Arch and Alice towards the trapdoor.“Go, go now before it eats you.” Alice grabbed her by the wrists, and Arch began to look for how to disconnect her shackle.“No, no! Stop! Please, you can't unshackle me! You can't do this! Let me go!” The princess cried. Kinan's eyes went wide, and she looked over at the trio. Arch pulled out a connecting pin, and the chain came off of the shackle.“Aha! Done!”“NO!” The princess cried. Kinan walked towards the thee of them forcefully.“Princess, how big is the dragon.”“Its big! Its huge!”“Then how did it get into the lower level when there is only a human sized doorway?” The princess stopped fighting back, and the sun lowered on the horizon.“Run.” She said.The princess began to wretch, and as she did her mouth began to elongate. Her skin began changing color, becoming a dark grey. Her pupils turned to vertical slits, and she started hunching over, her shoulders beginning to rise up under her dress and break the fabric. Arch and Alice stood stunned, so Kinnan ran forward, jumped, and kicked the princess in the side so she fell through the trapdoor, hitting the edge as she fell. They heard her body make a cracking thud on the ground, a horrible sound, and then the sound of the dress ripping apart and the howling screech of a dragon. Kinan slid down infront of the trapdoor with her landing, and closed the door, latching it as they heard the howling screech turn into a crackling inferno. The trap door grew hot enough it changed color slightly, with a small column of flame rising up from a hole just big enough for a chain to be notched into.“So.” Kinan said. “I'd say we found the dragon.”

They spent the night in the room, listening to the dragon thrash around in the room below. An animal trapped in a cage. They managed to get a few hours of rest in between the noise, only to be awoken each time by the dragon screeching and slamming itself into the sturday walls.“So.” Alice began, “I don't think you're really a bard.” Kinan looked over at her.“No.”“So who are you and what are you doing here.”“I'm a traveler. I protect places, and I'm here on an investigation.”“You had suspicions the princess was really a dragon?” Arch asked.“No, but I've been looking at... People similar to the princess. I'm trying to understand them. Princess Scythes is certainly the first person I've ever met who shapeshifts into a dragon, for the record. But I think its still useful information.”“So this whole thing has been a trap for heroes, get them to go and save the princess, and lead them into a trap.” Alice mused. “But why? What does the queen get out of this?”“Let me take a wild guess,” Kinan monotoned, “you're secretly funding an underground resistance to the queen.” Alice's jaw dropped.“Who told you that?”“You. Well, more like I'm good at putting two and two together. I figured out she was the dragon before she killed us, remember?” That was certainly true. The dragon thrashed beneath them, underscoring the point. “So the question is, what are we going to do with the princess?”“You mean the dragon that has slain countless knights? Do you really think we can let a monster like that live?” Alice said.“Do I?” Kinan raised both eyebrows very slightly, which struck them both as the most expressive thing they'd seen her do. “Consider the opposite, this is a young woman who has been chained up her whole life begging people to leave her alone so she won't kill them when she becomes and uncontrolable monster. Is this her fault?” Alice bowed her head a little.“Well when you put it that way...”“So we don't kill her.” Kinan concluded.“Hold up here, you're just making that decision?” Arch said. She looked at him. Arch tried to make out her feelings on him, and it sort of angered him he couln't read her one bit.“Yes. Unless you have a counterpoint for why murdering children is okay.”“She is a danger to everyone around her....”“Only because the Queen tells everyone to go kill her. Tells knights she doesn't want around to go kill her. Her enemies in court. People who stand up too much for the common folk. I'm just guessing, so tell me I'm wrong.”Arch and Alice exchanged glances.“You're not wrong.” they said in unison.“I thought so.” Kinan looked out the window, “So we just wait till sunrise.”

Princess Graelyn Scythes awoke naked in the transformation room, the charred threads of what was left of her dress in a few heaps. On the floor. She felt on her ankle, and found the chain had been undone. She moaned, and curled up in a ball, covering her face with her hands. She'd eaten those people. Just like always. The last thing she remembered was telling them to run, and then she was the dragon and... Wait. She stuck her hand in her mouth and felt around. Her mouth didn't taste like blood and flesh... there were no bits left in there... She sat up, and looked around the room. No bones. No corpses. She stood up and crossed her arms, trying to keep her heat in. The morining was chilly, and having no clothes didn't help. Cautiously, she walked towards the ladder and called up it. “Don't open it if you are, but are you alive up there?” There was a pause, and she thought she assumed she'd been too optimistic when she heard someone call down.“Princess? Is that you?”“It is. Could you please throw something down from my closet? Please don't look down.” There was a scrambling from up above, and a simple dress came down the trap door along with some underclothes. Graelyn put them on, and climbed up the ladder. At the top were the three people from last night, the two knights and the strangely dressed bard.“I'm very glad you all survived.” Graelyn said, “I'm princess Graelyn Scythes... No one has ever survived a night here before.”“So we noticed.” Songbird said.“I suppose its best if you get it over with....” Graelyn said, pulling her hair to one side of her neck, and getting on her knees. She closed her eyes.“Please make it quick.” The three looked at each other, and Arch reached down, taking her hand. She opened her eyes, and looked up confused.“Did you miss me turning into the dragon? I'm the dragon, if that wasn't clear. I eat people. So you're supposed to kill me.” She tried to think of how to make it clearer. “I am evil. There is a dragon inside me. You need to kill me.”“If you were really evil, would you have asked for us to leave, tried to persuade us?” Kinan said. “You're not evil. Sadly, you're not that important.”“What?”“No offense.”“What Kinan means,” Alice said, “is you didn't choose to be put in this tower did you? Or for knights to come here to fight you. You were put in a situation where you couldn't help but do bad things. You didn't have a choice.” Graelyn looked to the side, her head down, her eyes inspecting the houndstooth pattern on the rug. Kinan knelt down.“It was your mother, the Queen, you put you here, correct?”“To protect people from what's wrong with me!”“She is the one sending people here for you to kill.” Graelyn looked up shocked.“What? You're lying.”“She sent Lady Songbird and myself here to rescue you.” Arch said.“All those knights? I... I thought they just...” Graelyn was holding back tears. “I still killed them though. I'm an animal when I'm a dragon. I just want to feed.”“Do you keep your memories from when you change?” Kinan asked, and Graelyn nodded. Kinan looked at Arch and Alice. Arch whose face was trapped under that helmet, Alice who had fought in so many battles. Kinan had seen them before, and would see them again. The faces repeated. She knew them, maybe better than they knew themselves. The aesthetics changed, sometimes the motivations changed, but there was always something deep down that was the same. It often wasn't what people expected. She'd run into one person who she'd found their most consistent characteristic across their infinite lives was a love of peppermint, and then another whose was a fierce loyalty to their friends. But there was always something the same.“Lets stay here one more night.” Kinan said.“Are you crazy?” Said Sir Arch. “She turns into a dragon.”“And as we proved, we're totally safe in this upper room. You two can stay up here, and I'll stay with the dragon.”“That's insane!” Alice cut in, “It will literally eat you.”“She's right.” Graelyn whimpered. Kinan knelt down in front of Graelyn, and with her thumb and forefinger turned her face up to look at her.“I've seen a lot of things. More things than you can imagine. Do you know what I've learned in all that time?” Graelyn shook her head, moving Kinan's hand back and forth.“I've learned that you can't change what's been done to you, but you can do what you can to manage it, and if you can find the right steps, you can manage it. The only solution isn't the first option you found. Its not just between hurting other people and holing yourself up in this tower till you grow old and die.” Kinan rolled her sleeve up, and pointed out some circular scars on her inner arm. “When I was a young girl, some people thought they could make me their toy. And part of that came from making me afraid of myself, and making sure I didn't have the power I was truly capable of. Why do you think you're not dead? There's something inside you they are terrified of. Something they don't want you to know.” She held out her hand to Graelyn. It was a strong hand, calloused and tightly muscled. “Give me the chance to show you you're strong.” Graelyn looked up at the three of them, the other two seemed a bit amazed Kinan had just said all of that. She looked back down at the hand, and slid her own into it.“I'll give you that chance.”

They wasted the day playing cards, Alice and Arch got the horses back and fed them again, and they took turns telling stories (Kinan was a bit hard to listen to because she barely ever broke her monotone, but it was still a goo story. Alice's was probably the best as she interspersed it with song and had the best singing voice Arch or Graelyn had ever heard. Arch's story was descent, and Graelyn's was clearly from one of her books). When night began to approach, Graelyn went downstairs with Kinan, and stripped down while Kinan turned her back, and then wrapped herself in a blanket for modesty.“You can turn around now.” Kinan did, and coul tell Graelyn still felt awkward wrapped only in a blanket in front of another person.“Its okay.” Kinan said rather ineffectually. She didn't really know what else to say, then gave up and decided she may as well get to work. “Here, eat this.” Kinan said, pulling something out of a pouch at her hip.“What is it?” Graelyn asked, peering at it. “It looks like... bluish Crystal dust.”“It is crystal dust. Now eat it.” Graelyn began to eat it, it was pretty difficult to get it down, so Kinan offered her some water, which helped.“Okay, now what?”“Think of what I just gave you as medicine. It should help you control what's happening to you.”“What if you're wrong?” Graelyn asked.“You'll eat me.” Kinan deadpanned. It wasn't very reassuring. The sun began to drop below the horizon. Graelyn began to gag. Kinan stepped towards her, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. She could feel them changing under her grip, the bones shifting and pulsing.“Now Graelyn, I need you to focus. Focus on you. Remember who you are. Who are you?”“G-G-Graeelyn.” She gasped out.“Good. You don't want to hurt anyone do you?” She shook her head, and as she did so lurched downwards, the blanket falling away, the tips of wings pushing out from her back.“You're Graelyn Scythes. Say it.”“I-” she screeched, “Grae.” She forced it out.“And you don't want to hurt anyone.” Her skin was turning to scales, her fingernails were elongating into thick claws, her body was expanding rapidly, her neck elongating with her features, totally breaking the laws of the conservation of mass (well, technically Kinan knew she was converting a massive amount of energy into mass, and then expelling it but for most realities this would be breaking fundamental laws). The dragon in front of her let out a howling screech, and Kinan got close to it, moving to the side of its head to look into her big eye.“Your name is Graelyn Scythes, and you don't want to hurt anyone. Say it.” The dragon screeched, and bit at her. Kinan moved fast, and jumped around it's muzzle, forcing its mouth shut with her arms and thighs.“You are in control Graelyn. You are Graelyn, and you don't want to hurt anyone.” The dragon thrashed its head, trying to throw the burdensome rider off, but Kinan just held on tighter.“Think about your room. What was the story you told us about? You told a story.” The dragon tried to slam her into a wall, but she moved like a spider down its head onto its neck. The dragon rolled, and thrashed, but Kinan didn't let go even as she scurried across its body with a preternatural ease.“You're not used to this are you? You want to eat me don't you? Well, maybe that's the next step.” She dropped off the side of the dragon, and landed like a cat, rising to her feet and staring the dragon down impassively. It charged her, blowing fire. As the smoke cleared, the dragon expected her to be charred remains, a burning husk. But there she was, a curved line in front of her as though the fire had stopped right in front of Kinan. She stared. She didn't blink. The dragon charged again, mouth ready to devour her, and Kinan did nothing. As the jaw reached the moment where it was about to snap shut around her, she stomped her foot down, hard, and pushed her arm up. The dragon struggled, like someone had jammed a stick in its mouth. The dragon screeched, and blew more fire, and shook its head hard enough to break someone's neck, but Kinan just stood there, placid. Finally, it stopped moving.“Are you listening to me? I lied that you'd be able to eat me, obviously. But those lies are necessary. You aren't dangerous. I need you to realize that. You are Graelyn Scythes, and you don't want to hurt me, but there is another thing: you can't kill me. You cannot.” It tried to bite down harder, to no avail.“You can't. Which means everything you've presumed about your condition is a lie. A lie to make you think you're a monster, that you're worthless. That you could never live a life outside of this cage.” The dragon's jaw's went loose, an Kinan stepped out from it, placing her hand gently on its snout.“Do you know who tells that to people?” Kinan put her lips to the dragon's ear and whispered. “Monsters. Abusers. Controllers. People who want power over you. Who want to pretend they are your god.” She gently stroked the dragon's snout. “But you are Graelyn Scythes. Do you understand that?” The dragon looked unsure. “Its okay, you don't have to understand it now. But you're in there. This dragon is a part of you. And you don't have to do what they want you to do.” The dragon rumbled, and shuddered, and Kinan felt something thick and wet hit her shoulder.It was a tear.She gently stroked the dragon's snout, and felt an anger rise inside her. Kinan knew she would be making someone pay. But she couldn't think about that now.“Someone did this to you. You are Graelyn Scythes, and you don't want to hurt anyone.”

Arch an Alice opened the trapdoor after the noise stopped, and saw the dragon curled up with Kinan, the two of them asleep. Arch looked at Alice, “I can't believe it.” Alice couldn't either. She closed the trapdoor gently, and they slept soundly.

Graelyn woke up to find a blanket over her body, and Kinan standing over by the one of the thin slits in the wall, her back to her.“You're awake.” Kinan said. Graelyn nodded, and then realized she couldn't see it.“Yes. I.... I sort of remember last night?” Kinan nodded.“You did well. You'll be able to control it more and more as you practice. You'll need more of the medicine I gave you.”“What was that stuff anyways?”“Its too long a story to really explain in detail. In short, that dust allows you to tap into a version of yourself that isn't a dragon somewhere else.”“You mean my daytime self.”“No- well, sure. We'll go with that.” Kinan turned around. “We need to pay your mother a visit.” Graelyn shook her head.“I can't control myself yet.”“Then we'll wait until we can.”“We'll stay and help!” A voice from upstairs yelled. “We can hear you guys talking you know.”Graelyn smiled, “You guys will really stay and help me?” The trapdoor opened, and a fresh set of clothes dropped down, followed by an upside down Alice head that hung there smiling.“Of course we will. After all, empowering the people is sort of my main interest.” Arch groaned from somewhere behind her.“That's all she talked about last night, by the way.” Graelyn laughed. Maybe things would be okay after all.

* * * *

Queen Scythes drank deeply from her cup, and watched the jester juggle some balls again. Things seemed like it would be a generally boring day in court, up until the guard ran into the room. Everyone naturally turned.“My Queen!” Said the guard, “Three adventurers have returned with your lost daughter! She has been saved from the dragon.” She dropped her cup in shock.“That's impossible!”“My Queen, I have seen it with my own eyes. This is a joyous day for the Kingdom indeed. They are being brought here to the main hall post haste!” The Queen tried to think of something to say. How was this possible? She tried to think on her feet, but nothing came to her, and she heard the approaching cheers. Finally, she decided to call a guard. As the three adventurers and her daughter came into the room, she screamed: “that is not my daughter!” there was a collective gasp.“Mother its me!” Graelyn said, “I've been rescued.”“I know my daughter. You're the dread dragon in disguise. Don't try to fool us with your sorcery.” The guard's lowered their pikes into a charging position.“Mother, how can I prove that its me? I'm no dragon!” Her mother grinned a wicked grin.“Why, why don't you stay in this room past sundown?” Graelyn shrugged.“If that would prove it to you, that won't be any problem at all.” Graelyn sat down at a table, and smiled around the room. The room was tense as the day progressed, but as the sun set, Graelyn simply sat there picking at a sweet roll. The Queen was furious, but kept a polite smile on her face. The four of them, the whole plotting group just sat there politely chatting.“Arch, you said she cursed you correct? How did she do that?” Arch gestured to the queen's necklace, a blue crystal. “Everyone knows that the queen has that magic amulet. She never takes it off.” Kinan raised an eyebrow.“Excuse me, I need to go commit treason.” Kinan said, and got up from the table. Her companions halfheartedly tried to stop her, but in the end just let her go. She seemed to know what she was doing most of the time, anyways. The Queen watched her approach incredulously.“So, you're the foreigner who has riled up--” Kinan cut her off by drawing a blade from under her coat and carefully slicing the chain of the necklace so that she cut not a nic of flesh, and the amulet dropped down into her hand. Casually, she walked back to Graelyn, as the Queen back to gag.“I guess you inherited the whole dragon thing. Who knew. Anyways, this should solve your problems.” She tossed the amulet to Graelyn, who caught it and clasped it tightly.“Uh, Kinan...” Alice said, watching the Queen's wing's burst out of her back as the people in the room began to scream and flee. “...She's turning into a dragon.” Kinan shrugged and finished her wine.“Well you guys are heroes, lets go deal with the problem.” Arch and Alice drew their swords, and Graelyn , clutching the amulet, seemed to make a decision.“We're all heroes.” She said, and closing her eyes and focusing, began to gag. Two dresses ripped apart, and two dragons screeched at each other. Their wings unfurling, they belched fire at each other, sending the tables in the main hall flying and burning into walls. Alice, Arch and Kinan began to run towards the dragon, two of them with swords drawn. As the dragons circled each other, they waited. Graelyn tried to go for her mother's neck with a bite, but the queen tried to scratch her eyes out so she pulled back.“Now.” Alice said, and the three humans leapt into action. Arch and Alice stabbed downwards, putting their swords through the dragon's front feet, and then pulling to stab their swords between cracks in the stone floor where they stuck. Kinan leapt, and wrapped herself around the dragon's mouth, forcing it shut. Graelyn took the opportunity, and tackled her mother, holding her to the floor as she thrashed.“Guards! Chains!” Alice yelled. The guards poked their heads in through a crack in the door.“Don't just stand there gawking, chains!”

* * * *

Graelyn knelt as the Bishop lowered the crown on her head, and she rose up to face the crowd.“Long live Queen Scythes!” The Bishop said, and the crowd repeated it with a fervor. Graelyn smiled over at her Lord Protector of the Crown, Archimedes, and Lord Protector of the People, Songbird. They grinned back at her. She'd used the amulet to dispel Arch's curse (after some trial and error) and it was nice to see his face. Kinan stood there next to them, also clapping, but not smiling. Then again, she hadn't seen her smile once so she didn't take it as an insult. There was more pomp and circumstance, but she finally got the chance to talk to her friends soon afterwards.“I owe you all so much. I can't believe how much things have changed in such a short time. I hope you'll all stay here at my court, we can truly make this land a great one together.”“You know I'll help, the people of this land need lots of things. Safety, education, basic healthcare...” Alice said.“And I'll definitely stay to.” Arch said, “I owe you as much.”Graelyn held her hands out, and they took them, and knelt, but she pulled them up and hugged them instead. Then she turned to Kinan.“Won't you stay as well? I owe you the most of all.”“You owe me nothing.” Kinan said. “You were the one who learned to master your powers. Not me. Anyways, I have other places to be. I'm a busy woman.”“Please, reconsider-”“I'll check back in every so often to make sure you're keeping control of yourself, and leave some dust in case that amulet doesn't do the job by itself. But I really do need to be off. I came here to learn about you, Graelyn, and I certainly learned quite a bit. I just hope its useful.”“Still, I'm grateful.” Kinan nodded.“Be better than the people who hurt you.” Kinan said, and turned and began to walk away.“We won't forget you. You'll always be welcome.” Kinan turned her head, and for a moment Graelyn thought she might smile, but she turned her head back, and walked out the door into the great beyond.

Join us this Saturday for the 10,000 Dawns Halloween Special! Its going to be GREAT so make sure you stop by!

Its my honor today to bring you a guest interview with my friend and fellow author Luther Siler. He's got a new book coming out about a topic that's very near and dear to my heart: Teaching. I hope you check it out! Without further adieu:

1. First off, tell my readers a bit about yourself.

My name's Luther Siler. James and I met at InConJunction this year when we had tables next to each other in Artists' Alley, and... well, the convention was kinda slow, so we got to talking a bit. I've been a teacher since 2000, and I've been working on SEARCHING FOR MALUMBA in my head for nearly all of that time. I currently live in northern Indiana, and spent five years teaching in Chicago as well. I spend most of my time with my wife and son, blogging at my website, infinitefreetime.com, or shouting into the void on Twitter at@nfinitefreetime.

2. This book is about your experiences teaching. What got you into teaching in the first place?

﻿It was basically an accident, believe it or not. I was in grad school at the University of Chicago from 1998-2000, and had a beer-and-pizza-money job tutoring Algebra and helping out in the computer lab at a local Chicago Public Schools school while I was there. I decided after my MA that I didn't want to continue on to the Ph.D, and applied for a job teaching computer classes at a Catholic school that, somehow, I got. And now it's fifteen years later. It really shouldn't have happened that way. ​

3. What does the title of the book refer to?

I ain't sayin'. The last essay in the book is the title essay, and it's last for a reason. The full title of the book is SEARCHING FOR MALUMBA: WHY TEACHING IS TERRIBLE... AND WHY WE DO IT ANYWAY, and I'm hoping the post-colonic part of the title is clear enough that the slightly confusing main title gets overlooked. :-) (It's $4.95 for the ebook or $15.99 for the print edition, and is nearly 500 pages long, by the way, so I promise either way you're getting your money's worth!) ​

4. Do you feel like teaching as a profession is undervalued?

Lord, yes, and in some ways that's what half the book is about. I'll go farther, actually: education itself is massively undervalued in America, which may be the most anti-intellectual first world country on Earth. So people whose sole purpose is to provide a service that lots of people don't really think is necessary (the number of times I've heard "I never could do XXX, and I turned out fine!" from someone who clearly DID NOT turn out fine...) are highly likely to be themselves undervalued. That said, this book is mostly about my experiences in the classroom. I'm a surface-level thinker and writer in a lot of ways and the book isn't super existential. I'm just telling stories for most of it. I just hope they're entertaining, or at least horrible in a way that keeps people reading. ​

5. What do you hope readers take away from this book about teaching in America?

I just basically want people more aware of the bullshit we have to put up with, and to be aware of the way education law over the last fifteen years (and, to be clear, this is ABSOLUTELY a bipartisan issue-- I voted for Obama twice, but he is NOT on our side on this) has taken what was already a historically difficult profession and made it virtually impossible. Standardized testing has polluted every aspect of the teaching profession and, worse, the teacher-student relationship, and it's not going to get better until parents start picking up pitchforks and waving them at government officials. ​

6. Most of your published writing has been science fiction, what was the transition to writing non-fiction like?

A piece of cake, actually. Okay, granted, I really am telling the truth about this book taking 15 years to write, but in some other ways it's the easiest thing I've ever done. Writing about education comes incredibly easy to me, as does telling stories about my life, and that's basically all SEARCHING FOR MALUMBA is. I once wrote a thirty-page essay in grad school in something like two hours, because it was an issue I knew a hell of a lot about and felt pretty passionately about. Writing nonfiction is much, much easier for me than writing fiction ever has been.

7. What are your other books about?

My series THE BENEVOLENCE ARCHIVES is a short story novella and a full-length novel called THE SANCTUM OF THE SPHERE. They're space opera, very Star Wars and SAGA inspired, although I'm breaking away from the roots as I get farther into writing the stories. The elevator pitch, which I've never been hugely fond of but is reasonably accurate, is "Star Wars with D&D characters." The three main characters are a gnome smuggler, her husband and their halfogre enforcer. I'm trying to layer in some thematic complexity that doesn't come through in that pitch, but hell, if a Star Wars/D&D mashup appeals to you, you're gonna like it. My other novel is a near-future science fiction book called SKYLIGHTS, about the second human mission to Mars. It has a monkey in it. If you liked THE MARTIAN and were hoping for something not quite as good but with a monkey, you'll love it. (I know I'm not supposed to say other books are better than my book, but THE MARTIAN was wonderful. Read it after you read SKYLIGHTS if you haven't yet.)

My next project is a sequel to SKYLIGHTS, called either STARLIGHT or SUNLIGHT depending on my mood, and once that comes out the series will retroactively become known as THE JOHANNES CYCLE. After that, another BENEVOLENCE ARCHIVES book, this one a novel-length short story collection. Then something unconnected to either of them. It's weird to have my books planned out to 2017 already.

8. Do you think any of your students will be reading this book?

At least three of them definitely will, and those three have big mouths. None of my current students will see it, but there are a bunch who are either high school graduates now or close enough who I'm still in touch with. There are even stories about some of them in there. So, yeah, there's gonna be some former kids reading it. ​

9. What would you say is the best and worst thing about teaching?

The best thing is the actual teaching. I still, even with all my issues with burnout over the years, love the process of helping people (of any age) understand things that they don't get. The worst thing is everything else. Actually, no. The worst part is being a grown-ass man who can't go to the bathroom whenever he wants because the 28 adolescents he's in charge of will eat each other if he leaves them alone for five minutes. Everything else is second-worst. ​

10. Is there a chapter of this book that is your favorite?

Ooh. There is a piece called WHY I WILL NEVER BE A PRINCIPAL at the end that is about one of my more eye-opening days as the building designee, and there's another one called MITCH DANIELS CAN <GO ON A LOVELY PICNIC WITH HIS FRIENDS AND FAMILY> that is a massively reedited version of one of the most profane and insulting things I've ever written.

I swear in this book, by the way. If you're the type of person who believes that teachers should be pristine sinless virgins (another pet peeve about the job) in their private lives, this may not be the book for you.

11. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about we missed?

<Ponders>

If you happen to be in the Midwest, and specifically a Hoosier, I'll have a dealer table at Starbase Indy in Indianapolis during Thanksgiving weekend. You can come grab signed versions of any of my books for less than they'll be at Amazon, and spend some time staring at people in cool costumes too! There will probably be an audio version for MALUMBA coming sooner or later, too, and if you want to read this digitally but don't have a Kindle, get in touch with me via my website up there and chances are there's a way I can magically put an .epub version in your hands. I will come up with some other Important Thing Everyone Needs to Know the second I hit send on this, I'm sure...

Thanks so much for the interview! I really appreciate it, and I hope everyone (yes, EVERYONE, including you!) enjoys the book!

Luther

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us Luther!You can find Searching for Malumba at the link below:http://www.amazon.com/Searching-Malumba-Teaching-Terrible-Anyway-ebook/dp/B014ZF618U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1441549322&sr=8-2&keywords=searching+for+malumba

Author's Note: Welcome to the first part of our month long Hiatus from the main storyline of 10,000 Dawns. We're still giving you a full length story story every week in the meantime though (plus a Halloween special!) so don't get too sad. If you're curious what's coming up, there's a schedule below!Oct 29th: "Knights and Dragons" StoryOct 31st: 10,000 Dawns Halloween Special, art by Annie ZhuNov 5th: The Adventures of Mister Sprinkles the Cat SequelNov 12th: Jame Morrel StoryNov 19th: (return to normal schedule) 10,000 Dawns Chapter 16

Bonus Story #2: Don Your Armor, Throw Down Your Sword

art by Rachel Johnson

Don Your Armor, Throw Down Your Sworda Songbird story by James Wylder

"To me, the Songbird is immortal, she's a symbol that will live on beyond any of us."The ice cream dripped onto her shoe, and Alice cursed."The Songbird is the vengeance of the people incarnate, but also their conscience."Alice stared at the two films in her cue on the projector and squinted. She sat there for five minutes trying to decide which one to watch before accidentally clicking on one and then just accepting it as her choice."I don't actually think she has a heart. She's cold, she's brutal. I wouldn't trust her."Alice stopped her run at the playground where the little boy was crying. She came over and knelt down. "Hi there, what's wrong?" He pointed at his skinned knee. "Well, lets see what we can do about fixing you up.""I don't thinks she's ever scared."She bolted up in bed. The gun was going off again. "I don't know what to do." Graelyn said. Alice tried to say something back to her but her lungs were filling with blood. The gun went off again. She was falling again. "I don't know what to do." Her lungs were filling with blood. She clenched the bedsheets, she was here, she told herself. She was in her own bed. The cat walked over her, which usually would have been annoying, but this time was useful. She tried to focus on the cat, focus on the sheets, focus focus focus. She'd put a poster above her bed to focus on for just this purpose, it had an alphabet of different world revolutionaries on it in colorful caricature. She started focusing on the reality of the poster above her to. Focus.In time, the flashback was over.

"Have you continued having trouble sleeping?" Her therapist asked."No. I'm doing great." Alice tried her best to lie through her tired lips and past her encircled eyes. The therapist sighed."Alice I'm here to help you. It's okay, this a safe place.""I can't show that I'm weak. The people need me.""You're not weak. You've survived so much.""I shouldn't be letting this get to me, I should be over this. I've seen far worse things than that.""Trauma isn't that simple, it's different for everyone and sometimes it doesn't make sense what parts of it hold us down. Everything you're feeling is legitimate.""I know it is." She says. She's lying, of course.

Jack's shoulder bag swung with a deep weight, it had a strong strap, but it still looked like it might snap. Alice shook her head, trying to clear it. "You alright?" She nodded."I'm fine. I can't wait to get back on the shooting range. I need to get back in the action, I'm tired of sitting at home. I'm no good at it." Jack nodded, and they walked to the desk, signed in, scanned their ID's and got into the range. It was nearly empty, they'd chosen a low attendance time on purpose, and the only other occupant was a scruffy looking east-Asian man who was fussing over some antique guns rather than firing them. Jack ruffled through the bag, and pulled out a box of ammunition, and set it on the counter. Then he pulled out a rifle, and set it next to it. "Lets start you off with something low-caliber actually..." he mused, and pulled out a handgun, which he checked and, handed to Alice. She took it, and held it. What was in her hand? She looked down, and tilted her head to her side. That was a gun. Wait- who was holding the gun. It suddenly struck her this wasn't her perspective, this was Graelyn's. Alice was in front of her, staring dumbly. She would shoot her on accident. That would be horrible. There would be so much blood."Alice?" Jack said."Who's Alice?" She replied, "Where am I?" Jack's face fell, and he gently put his hand on hers."Maybe this wasn't a good idea... Lets just put that down.""I don't know what to do." She said, then, "What have I done? I shot her."Jack slipped the gun out of her hand. "No, you didn't shoot anyone. No one is shot.""Can't you see me? I'm right there on the ground.""No, you're right here, you're in the shooting range.""Why are we here, I was on the roof...""Let's go home." He packed the bag up quickly, and began to lead her out."We need to get back to the roof there are people hurt there. I went there to kill him Jack.""Its okay. Everyone's okay." He led her carefully out to the car, and called her therapist.

Alice sat in Doctor Chamali Tran's office, wringing her hands. She couldn't remember what Jack had said had happened, which just made her feel even smaller. Why couldn't she control herself? Why? Doctor Tran came back in."How are you feeling Alice?" She just kept wringing her hands, and looked down at them. Tran sat down across from her."So I heard you had a dissociative episode.""I don't remember it.""That's fairly common. Dissociation can be scary, but it's sort of like an inborn defense mechanism. When it's too painful to consider the pain happening to you, you stop realizing you're yourself.""I doubt it's that simple.""Of course it's not. But I think that's a good way of explaining it for you. You keep trying to fight the healing process. Your post traumatic stress isn't going to ever vanish, but you can manage it, and you can heal. You won't always be like this.""Of course I will. I should have died during that war. I was supposed to die. I was meant to die! I didn't deserve to live through it. I don't want to be here. I'm a burden on everyone now, I'm just excess weight for my friends to carry they'd be better off without me!" Tran leaned in, carefully."You're alive, and people love you. You're not their burden, you're their friend. And they need you, still."

The call came for the group to mobilize, and Alice listened intently from her desk. She'd wanted to get back to work, but she still couldn't hold a gun, and she had tried and tried. Eventually she’d stopped after she realized how much of a burden she had to be, needing aid every time she failed. She was now filling out paper work, and doing tactical advising. She was bored out of her mind, but at least she was being useful. Jack, Chantelle, Trevon, Yi, Gerald, Shona, and the others walked by her window, suited up for the mission, slapping each other on the back and getting revved up. The anti-Communist groups had taken longer than expected to really organize, but organize they did, and not stopping them was their job. Strange how the people in the shadows were now the capitalists. It was a topsy turvy world. "Lets move out!" She heard Jack yell. She was proud of him, really. He wasn't a natural leader, but he'd taken up the mantle with grace. Good on him. She began to fill out the next form, and tried to not be jealous. She failed.* * * *

“Alice, could you come down to the R&D center?” Alice was staring off, and it took her a moment to realize she was being spoken to over the intercom.“What? Oh, yes, I can. What do you need me for?” She said pressing the button to talk back.“No idea, just go there.” Weird, but not unusual in such a big base. Tidying up her paperwork, Alice went down the elevator to the Research labs, where she was greeted upon the doors opening to all of her friends standing around a pair of technicians.“What if we made the flight take off radius higher? I mean, right now it has to be at an angle.” One said.“Even if it was at a right angle, that would still be an angle.” The other replied.“Oh, right.”Jack and co waved at her, and several couldn't help glancing at a tall object with a sheet over it. So this was what this was all about.“Hello everyone, what exactly is going on here?”“Well Alice, meet Jim and Annie, they basically create everything there is around here.”“Hi.” They said in unison, and continued to squabble over take off angles. She noticed Jim talked the most, but seemed incapable of putting the schematics down on paper himself, which Annie did.“I take it they've been working on something for your team?”“Not for the team,” Chantelle cut in, “For you.”“Me?” It seemed obvious, but she was surprised.“Of course its for you you silly duck.” Yi replied. Annie and Jim moved away from the schematics and moved under the sheet with some tools, and there was a bit of noise.“Well, what is it?”“Are you two ready?” Jack asked.“Yeah, we think so!” Annie replied, and they pulled the sheet off. Alice gasped. Under it was a full suit of mechanical armor like she'd worn on the roof in Nojpeten before it was demolished by Arch impacting it. “We managed to repair it, fix it all up-” Jim started“-and make some improvements!” Annie finished. Alice walked up to it, and ran her fingers along the angles of the metal. It was painted black, with red highlights, and a rather generic looking bird painted in a circle on either shoulder plate.“What kind of bird is that?” She asked.“A songbird, of course!” Jim said.“We couldn't actually decide on what kind of bird to put on there so its pretty vague looking. We can always change it to a new one.”“I don't know what kind of bird you'd put on there anyways. Its fine for now.” She walked around the suit. It was fantastic, she could already tell many of the prototype's flaws had been ironed out.“That's not all though!” Jim was practically giddy, “Should I tell her?”“No I wanna tell her!”“Okay you tell her.”Annie looked very pumped about informing her of this next fact, “It flies!”“What, you mean like, Iron Man or something?”“Er, sort of.” She pulled out a remote control, and pushed a button: two short wings popped out of the suit, with a booster on either side.“More like... The Iron Falcon.”“The Iron Songbird.” Jim suggested.“Just Songbird is fine.” Alice said. It felt nice to think of the suit being her persona, while her face was Alice, in a strange way.“So do you want to do a test run?” Jack asked.“What? Now?”“Of course now, why do you think we brought you down here?” Alice's eyes lit up.“Someone help me put this suit on, I'm not keen on hesitation!”

* * * *

She stood on top of the building, her metal feet somehow no heaver than her own. The motors moved as she turned her ankle in perfect synchronization. There was a heads up display in the helmet that ran her through the pre-flight procedures, and she payed close attention before booting up her wings. They sprung out of her back, and she grinned from ear to ear.“Are you ready to go?” She heard Annie say in her ear.”“Yes.”“Then you're clear to fly!” Jim said.She turned the boosters on, and her feet lifted off the ground, she hovered for a moment, and then leaned forward, the rockets pushing her further off the ground and into the sky. The ground was left behind her, and she soared higher into the air. There below her was England, and as she flew on, the buildings passed below her like someone's model train set. The people moved between places like little dots. She passed an especially tall skyscraper, and watched the people look up from their desks at her. She waved at them as she passed, and got a few confused waves back.“Control, I'm going to try some tricks.” There was a moment of hesitation before she heard Jim say back:“...Okay?”She rocketed higher, and spun through the air, barrel rolling through clouds and doing loopty-loops. A flock of birds passed by her like she was a casual sight for them. Glorious. Then she dove, picking up speed and feeling the G's as the ground grew closer and closer, she pulled up and rose like a roller coaster, giving a jubilant whoop into the comm. This was the greatest thing she'd ever gotten to do in her life. Settling into her flight, she began looking through the updates on the HUD. Most were boring, but one struck her.“Hostage situation.” Followed by an address and further details.“Annie, Jim, whats this hostage situation?”“Jack and the others are already gearing up to help, and the police are there. You don't need to worry about it.” But she did worry about it. She asked the onboard computer to figure out the distance to the address.“Its barely any trip at all for me, and they haven't even left yet.”“Alice, listen to me, you haven't been cleared to return to a combat situation yet-” she turned the comm off. She was going to do this. She needed to do this.

The baby wouldn't stop crying, and it was driving Andrew mad.“Could you keep that brat quiet?” He yelled.“Jesus, Andrew, its just a baby.” Glen said. The mother shushed the baby and tried rocking it, but since he yelled it was only crying louder.“Are we ready for the broadcast?” Glen nodded in reply. Andrew walked over to the camera.“To the so-called “World Revolutionary Council”, we have one message: we demand a free, seceded England from your Communist tyranny. Unless you comply, one hostage will die every hour. That is all.” They cut the feed. There were a lot of hostages, and plenty of hours. They'd no doubt get to up the number they'd execute. Glen was looking a bit shaky, as were Amy and Lawrence.“Come on, shape up.”“Andrew, I think we've gone too far. I mean, I believe in the cause but...”“But what?”“Executing civilians?”“Lawrence, listen to me: These aren't civilians. They became combatants as soon as they capitulated to the communist government of earth. Anyone who accepts their system is guilty of violence to our freedom. These aren't innocents. They're pawns.” Lawrence nodded, he still looked hesitant, but he didn't argue. Good enough.“Sir?” Miriam said from the monitoring station, “There's something unusual on the cameras?”“What kind of unusual.” She turned the monitor, and he saw a tiny blip flying towards them through the sky. Was that a drone? They couldn't possibly think they could take them out without killing all the civilians in the—not civilians, he reminded himself-- in the building. But what was it? It was moving fast, and the camera wasn't tracking it well. Old tech.“Sir, I think its a-” It suddenly accelerated, and the wall burst open. Covering his eyes, he lowered his arm to try to make out what exactly was there. In the fading swirl of dust from the impact stood a towering figure of black and red.“What the hell?”“My name is Songbird,” A modulated voice boomed out of the machine, “and you're going to surrender now.” Andrew's jaw dropped for a moment, before he remembered he was holding a rifle. Without thinking he raised it, and fired off a burst of shots into the thing's chest. Suddenly it hunched over, covering its head.

Alice panted. Her mind swirled. She lowered a hand from her head, and put it to her chest, she raised it to her eyes, and looked at all the blood on her fleshy hand. “I don't know what to do.” Graelyn said.She was dying and she knew it- no. No she wasn't dying. She needed to focus. She couldn't focus. She was being pulled between two places in time, and she couldn't control it.“You keep trying to fight the healing process. Your post traumatic stress isn't going to ever vanish, but you can manage it, and you can heal. You won't always be like this."She tried to remember the techniques she'd been taught.Focus on where you are. She tapped her own helmet, and heard the hollow thud. She was in her armor. Jack had given her this armor, and the rest of her team, her friends: Chantelle, Trevon, Yi, Shona, Gerald... She shouldn't do this alone. She'd shut herself away like she could just get over what had happened, and she was going to die and let everyone who cared about her down. Her friends. Heck, those two weird mechanics who had cared enough to set all this up for her. She would die and let them all down. She was in a room. She was squatting in some rubble. She felt hands on her shoulders.They're trying to break into my armor, she realized. Crack me open like a crab.She tried to focus on her arm, just one arm. She didn't need the rest of her body, not yet. This was a nice arm. When she'd been little she'd used it to do one armed pull ups on the jungle gym for her dad to show off, trying not to let him know she she couldn't do them with the other arm yet, and could only do three. She'd used this arm to gesture while she was singing in the White Rabbit pub for her Dad and his comrades. She smiled. Yes, this was the right arm for this. She flexed her fingers, and felt her flesh.I am here, right now, not anywhere else. I am here. I am here. I am here.She swung her arm out, and knocked the wind out of a man, then reached out behind her, and casually grabbed a woman by the front of her bullet proof vest and swung her over her head to slam her down onto the floor. She moaned a bit.“Like I was saying.” Alice said, “I'm the Songbird. And you need to surrender.” Andrew grimaced.“So Alice MacLeod is back.”“And better than ever.” She said, rising to her feet. She was actually trembling, not that he could tell.“I've rigged this whole room to blow. I'll kill the symbol of this horrible 'revolution' and martyr myself. You've given me a gift.” Alice looked around at the room. This wasn't what she'd expected.This was a Kid Kastle Fun Center. There were big animatronic animals paused in mid musical performance, and an abundance of arcade and ski-ball machines. There were lots of children, huddled with their parents or the people they'd gone to a birthday party with. Cold pizzas and abandoned cakes with pictures of cartoon characters topped the tables. She felt a stroke of rage. This man, whoever he was, was willing to put all of these children in danger for his little war?Would she have done that?It struck her how clearly the answer was no. It struck her how Manuel had thought the same, to put their fight somewhere no one else would get hurt. It struck her that Graelyn was willing to put herself in danger just to prevent her from crossing the line into murder. A red sheen coated her vision. She clenched her fists.“You're a coward. I never once resorted to putting children in harm's way like this. Fight me like you stand for something.”“Hah, bold words. Where's your gun?” She raised her chin.“I don't need a gun. I've moved beyond guns. What's the point anyways? I'm not here to kill you.” The words surprised her, but she kept going, “I'm here to offer you a chance at a new world.”“I don't want your new world!” he said grandly, “And neither do my soldiers. We don't want your false promises, we want Centro, a world where ambition isn't a sin.”“It isn't a sin. And you won't be punished for ambition. Trying to murder children maybe, but not that.”“You've murdered more people than I ever will.”“Yes. And now the war is over. No matter what happens here today, we've won. You're holding up a children's pizza parlor. This isn't some bold move that will solidify the past you want to live in. That past is gone.” Alice looked at the other soldiers. “Its not coming back. But we don't have to keep killing each other. You'll kill some of our people, and then we'll hunt you down and kill more of you, and then you'll kill more of us, and so on and so forth... And what? What will you get out of it?”“You led a revolution. You're goddamn hypocrite.”“Maybe I am,” She held out an armored hand, “but you're all going to die here, you won't see any future. Give me the chance to show you mine. Its not what you want but... But we have to live in this world together. You're going to disagree with us, but there will always be people that do that. You can't stop people from thinking, even if you don't like it. I thought I'd die in the war, and maybe you did to. I thought I wouldn't have to deal with the consequences, the aftermath. But I do, and we can all live in this aftermath. Live together.”Andrew raised a box with a button on it. The lights on the bombs around the room seemed to be eyes waiting for his order.“I'd rather die.”Suddenly, a hole appeared in his forehead, blood flooding out as he crumpled down. Alice looked to where the shot came from. The man who she'd hit in the chest, nametag said Glen, looked over at her, and dropped his rifle.“We surrender.” The rest of the rifles dropped to the ground.“We've got long lives ahead of us.” Songbird said back, “Make them count.”

She was greeted back at the base with cheers. After she got out of the suit, she was carried through the main hall on several people's shoulder's. No civilians had died, and other than the ringleader, the insurgents had all surrendered. Her friends patted her on the back, and there was a cake that someone had drawn her flying to the rescue on in red icing.“I drew it!” Annie noted as the first slice was cut.“Do you like it?”“Oh I love it! Annie, could you draw something for me on the armor? I know what kind of bird I want on it.” Annie cocked her head to the side. Alice thought of those nights she sang for her Father and his friends in the White Rabbit, what they'd called her then. She flexed her hand.“Make it a Nightingale.”

Alice was early for the appointment for once, which surprised Doctor Tran. She was never early, only late or precisely on time. She hadn't expected that, so had gone to get coffee. The aroma filled the space between them, sweet and bitter.“Alice, what are you doing here early? Are you okay?” Alice shook her head.“No, I'm not okay. I'm... I'm really not okay. I can't sleep. I have nightmares every night. I freeze up when I hold a gun. I sometimes relive being on that roof in Nojpeten over and over again like I was there... I... I'm not okay. And I'd really like to talk to you about it.” Doctor Tran smiled.“I'm so glad to hear that. You're finally taking your armor off.”“Oh not at all Doctor, I'm finally putting it on.”

Join us next week for the long awaited 10kd bonus story "Knights and Dragons"!

Story by James Wylder, Art by Annie ZhuAuthor's Note: As of today, we are officially on Hiatus! We'll be taking a month off to get the next arc of 10kd ready to go, but because we're bad at Hiatuses, we're also still going to be having new 10kd stories every week about side characters from the Universe! You can check out the (revised) schedule below :). Happy reading! I hope you enjoy the end of this story arc... Here we go! -JimOct 22nd: Alice "Songbird" MacLeod StoryOct 29th: "Knights and Dragons" StoryOct 31st: 10,000 Dawns Halloween Special, art by Annie ZhuNov 5th: The Adventures of Mister Sprinkles the Cat SequelNov 12th: Jame Morrel StoryNov 19th: (return to normal schedule) 10,000 Dawns Chapter 16

Chapter 15: The Trial of Graelyn Scythes

"You keep breathing but you don't know why.Life's unfair and sometimes you die.You're still breathing but you just can't tell,don't hold your breath butthe pretty things are going to hell." -David Bowie

Graelyn fidgeted as the head of the board of Directors spoke on an and on. She couldn't stay focused, it was like the world around them was crumbling into a million puzzle pieces and she was scrambling around on the floor trying to replace them. She looked down at her hands. She frowned."Excuse me," Ariadne Moore interupted, "I need to step out for a moment." She had clearly just gotten some message on her phone, the head of the board indicated it was fine if she left. The meeting continued for a few more minutes, and then the waiter came in with some refreshments."Now if we can just turn around things in China we can--""Excuse me everyone," the waiter said, "I'm afraid I have some bad news." The board looked up in unison, as the man drew a gun. "Viva La Revolucion." He finished." Many on the board scampered under the table, some pressed panic buttons hidden on rings and watches. The man held firm, and after a brief explosion heard from the same floor, a stream of pro-Revolutionary forces stormed into the room."I will not be taken to be put on some show trial!" The head of the board screamed, as two revolutionaries grabbed her and took the suicide capsule from her mouth by force."Now now." A voice said, a firm voice, and then stepped forward a Songbird of Liberation."No one ever said you'd be getting a trial. Line them up. Get the ropes."Graelyn didn't fight back, she just stared at her reflection in the glass. How did she get to where she was? They would never understand why she had to do what she had to do. She heard her name listed off, and realized this was the end. She hadn't done nearly enough. But as she fell, she saw herself. Young, screaming, she remembered that outfit even. She didn't have time to think about it before she fell and the rope went taught. It wasn't a quick death, and when Alice said "You're dead." a few yards above her, she was in fact wrong. Graelyn had always heard that when you die your life flashes before your eyes. It turned out to be somewhat true, cause only part of it appeared. She saw a few days, like flashes, before her breath stopped, and she just hung there like a medal.

February 18th, 2494The conductor raised her arms, and in a sweeping motion brought the orchestra to life. It wasn't just music, it was an organism, set to live for only seven minutes and so many seconds. The strings bore the brunt of the beast's life, and they set to work in a a fervor. Graelyn Scythes closed her eyes for a moment. She could feel the gentle weight of the glasses on the bridge of her nose, and on the top of her ears. Ashlyn reached out an clutched her hand, she reciprocated the gesture, allowing a faint smirk to creep onto her. The orchestra below was literally playing her song. Things really couldn't be better. The audience rose to applaud the piece. Bandwagon fans, she thought.

June 4th, 2494Ashlyn heard the lock turn in the next room, and Graelyn steppe into the bedroom rubbing her eyes. "What exactly is in that room anyways? You really don't have to worry about me spilling your secrets." Graelyn smiled at her reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. Its just very sensitive work. I don't want to show anyone tilll i know if it works or not." Ashlyn nodded. It was basically the same explanation as last time. She felt like a detail had changed from the last telling though.. Though she couln't place which one."Don't be so worried." Graelyn muttered, slipping under the covers. The cat walked over, and sat on the bed, so Graelyn got up and put it in its cage."Why did you name the cat Captain Fudgesickle?" Graelyn shrugged as she settled into bed again."It just seemed like the the I'm supposed to do.""You mean as a cat owner?" There was a prolonged silence."...No, I, never mind." She rolled over, and was silent.

July 3rd, 2494Graelyn watched the Mexico City facility fade from view as the VTOL began making its way to New York. This was all necessary. She knew it was necessary. If she didn't do this... Her thoughts trailed off. Why was this necessary? She tried to put her thoughts in order, but they didn't quite line up properly. Like someone had put the answer at the end of an equation and she had to work towards it no matter what. This was the answer, but the question eluded her. This was to fight Mars, right? Or the Rim pirates? She'd said as much to herself before, but there had to be a more efficiant way for this to happen. Why this way? She felt her head start to pound. As she looked in her reflection in the window, it suddenly struck her that her hair color was wrong.

June 8th, 2495Ashlyn slipped out of bed, and picked the keys up out of Graelyn's purse. She had to know. It had been eating away at her all this time, and she had to know. It could be nothing behind that door, but if it wasn't... She didn't even know what it would be. But she still creeped towards the door, keys in hand, and taking one last look to see that Graelyn was asleep, turned the lock. She opened the door slowly, and peered in. At first there was only darkness, but then there was a movement in the shadows. She stifled a reaction, and fiddled for a switch. The lights turned on, revealing a man, his body lined in scars. He turned to her, pityingly. He didn't speak, for his mouth was sewn shut."Such a pity." Graelyn said, with a sigh. Ashlyn turned, and put her hand over her mouth in shock."Graelyn, you're awake. I just, you left the door open and..." Graelyn shook her head, and jangled the keys."You should have trusted me Ashlyn. So many things would have been simpler." Graelyn went over to the sink, and turned the water on. She flipped a switch so the basin would fill."What are you doing? Who is he?""A test subject. The son of a rather important figure who opposed us, actually. Now he's finally usefull to society. Johnathan, come over here." He followed her, and Ashleyn rubbed her arm nervously."Ashlyn, you to. I need you to see something." She followed, against her better judgement."Now Ashlyn, Johnathan is the ultimate solider. He follows every order. With use of an army of him we could take back Mars, take the Rim, finally have a true united humanity... But I can't... I can't shake the feeling I'm missing something. There is a larger reason I've been working on all of this. I can't place it though, like its a bug hovering around my head I can never swat or catch a glimpse of. Do you know what I'm saying.""I... I think so.""Good. You've been a good wife Ashlyn. Sorry about this, and I mean that, you know that? I'm not a bad person.""Of course you're not-- I don't understand, you're not leaving me are you?" Graelyn put her arms around her."No no no, of course not. I'll never leave you as long as we're both breathing." Ashlyn sighed, and leaned into Graelyn's chest, but she shoved her back against Johnathan."Johnathan. Hold her head down in the sink till she stops breathing." Johnathan looked pained, horrified even, but he didn't hesitate for a moment. Graelyn pulled a drink out of the fridge and took a seat as the splashing and water muffled screaming grew fainter and fainter. What an unpleasant night."Please get rid of the body Johnathan, I don't really care how." She looked up at him."She did know that you can never achieve anything if you aren't willing to cut out your own heart? That you cannot advance unless you sacrifice what matters to you?" Johnathan was silent."It was necessary. This all was necessary. And I will be remembered as a hero."

Her feet turned gently in the breeze. After some time, her left shoe fell off.

* * * *

July 27th, 2495She chose her clothes carefully. She'd never been particularly interested in clothes, not the way lots of people were, but she payed attention to them. Today, she chose them more carefully than usual. Manuel had given her a whole wardrobe, and she picked out a luscious hounds-tooth blue and red blazer and skirt. She had new glasses fabricated that matched the pattern, and put on a pair of black converse all-stars. Her lawyer had raised an eyebrow, but she couldn’t escape the fear she'd have to run again, and she was tired of getting caught in dress shoes. She picked out a tie and a blouse, and put her hair up in a ponytail. She looked in the mirror, and she felt like herself. Her black hair, her lean physique, her favorite clothes to wear... She was ready. Today was the day. Today she would prove something to more than just herself.Antwon Phillipe had the cameraman run one more check, and then they began filming. Minh-Ho was still setting up, and she didn't have as good a view of the Oslo Courthouse. He flashed his winning smile and began broadcasting."We're here in Oslo for the trial of the century. Graelyn Scythes claims to be a different individual from the Centro director-- Wait it looks like the accused is arriving now!"The van pulled up, an armed guard forming a human fence between the back doors of the truck, and the accused stepped out from the van, carefully helped down by a blonde revolutionary in a Beret. Instantly, the scene was mobbed. The soldiers held ranks, and Graelyn tried to hold her head high as Jame came to her side, Shona coming down from the truck to guard the other side. The cries and jeers of the crowd grew louder and louder, and soon things were being flung, most of them impacting on the stoic chests of the people in uniform."Just hold in there. Its only twenty meters to the door, and then you can't hear them anymore." Jame whispered to her. She nodded, and the trio began walking."Murderer!" She heard a woman yell."If they don't kill you we will!" She heard a man yell."You don't deserve a trial they should just shoot you where you stand!" Someone cried out. Graelyn kept her head up as Jame and Shona ushered her through the human corridor. Then a thrown object went high-- and Graelyn cried out as Shona shoved her back from a brick that slammed into the pavement in front of them with such force it shipped it and then bounced."Shit." Jame muttered, and pushed Graelyn forward again. She looked between her guardians with an edge of fear."Why are you scared Graelyn? Afraid we'll do to you what you did to us?" The crowd erupted in mocking laguhter at that, and then another object went high. Shona batted it out of the way, but it spattered all over her, coating her in some sort of red fluid. Graelyn nearly panicked before realizing it was red cream soda. "We have to keep going." Graelyn decided, and they kept moving, as the guards were pushed in by the crowd, narrowing their passageway."IS THIS ANYWAY FOR A PEOPLE TO BEHAVE?" A voice boomed out, and Songbird stepped out of the courthouse like a thunderstorm. Her eyes were lightening, and her voice was the sky."If you want to murder her, go ahead. Do it. Lower yourself to Centro's level. Let the history books show we were no better than the people we gained our freedom from. Embarass yourself. Do it if you want to. I won't stop you." The crowd grew eerily silent. "Or you can trust that within those wall's justice will be decided. There will be a livestream. Or I suppose I fought tooth and nail since I was a child for freedom so we could commit our own attrocities with out the government's help. Is that what you want?" The crowd looked at each other, as though trying to figure out if the question was rhetorical or not, and then a chorral of untimed overlapping, "No, Songbird...."'s began. She nodded."Then let her through." She took one look at Graelyn's shocked face, and turned and walked back inside.

"Do we know who the jugde is yet?"Graelyn whispered, after they'd been set up at their table."No." Jame said angrily. "I have a feeling this trial is going to be highly unorthodox. As much as the WRC is claiming its not a show trial, they're livestreaming it. Which means it is a showtrial." Graelyn narrowed her eyes."So I'm performing for more than just for the Judge then.""Yes. They don't need this to be a jury trial. They have a planetwide jury waiting. Billions of people are already tuned in right now you know, I have the app open on my phone. The audience is only going to grow one we officially start." Jame pointed over to the other table. "That's our opponant, Marissa Thomas. She was the chief Prosecutor of the African Superior Court before she defected to the revolution. She's tough.""Have you ever won a trial against her before?" Jame shook their head."No, not even close. I had one trial against her years ago and she ripped me apart." Graelyn did not feel reassured. "Oh, don't look at me like that. This is different. I've got an Ace in the hole.""You do?" Jame raised an eyebrow."I thought you'd figured it out by now." Jame might have said more, but a representative of the WRC stepped forward to to make an announcement. Graelyn looked behind her to see the Salazars including Manuel, Maria, and Lizette, Archimedes, Shona, and Alice were all in the audience. She was reassured to see most of them, though she had a hard time meeting alice's gaze."To all in attendance, and all viewing remotely: The WRC has decided on a judge for this trial. There is only one candidate we have determine is fit to decide this contest fairly.""Wiggins? Al-?" Jame muttered to themselves."And so we are proud to introduce to you the Judicator, model 0001, of Talinata Systems. Justice of the Peace, and of the Revolution." The ensuing reaction was luckily filmed for posterity, as Jame and Marissa's jaws dropped in unison. As the worlds soaked in, the court exploaded in noise. Both Jame and Marissa were yelling objections, the crowd was screaming or laughing, or just sitting there confused, which was what Graelyn was doing. The representitive stood calmly, and then the side door opened for the Justice to step through, and all eyes fell on it. The Judicator was not just a justice, it was Justice. With its every step, it broadcast to the world that damn son, you'd better be fair because the Judicator would know if you weren't. Its feet stepped through up to the Judge's podium cutting through the din like noise canceling headphones. It slid into its chair, and spun aroun in it once before settling in and leaning forward."I'm curious." The Judicator said, "What exactly the two of you are objecting about when I'm barely even in my seat." The court was totally still, and Jame and Marissa looked almost embarrassed."I'm the Judicator, like this kind representative said. I've been programmed with a completely objective and lawful attitude towards all beings, and insurmountable clemency for the facts. Now if you wouldn't mind, are there any objections to me?"Graelyn tugged at Jame's sleeve, "What is that?""A myth." Jame whispered. "The Judicator once convicted the entire board of Directors centuries ago. It got deactivated because it was too fair. It doesn't see the social good. It doesn't see regimes. It sees justice. It knows the entire history of world law. Centro never trusted AI's after the debacle it put them through." Graelyn looked at the machine, its rectangle eyes glowing bright blue, and couln't help but wonder if this was actually all real."Excuse me, your honor, but how can we trust your programming is... Not corrupted after all these centuries?""Fair question." The Judicator's eyes flashed, and a file popped up on the tablets of Jame and Marissa. "I have been tested by every single living member of a superior and supreme court on Earth, and I have passed every test flawlessly." They took a moment to scroll through the results, they were inarguable."Any more objections?""Your honor," Jame began, "we've only just been informed you are our Justice. Perhaps it would be prudent to postpone the trial...?" The Judicator leaned back."Under normal circumstances, I would. Unfortunately delaying this trial would only serve to further the prosecution's cause, not because it would give them more facts, but because it would allow public opinion to continue to sway in their direction. It would be irresponsible of me to allow further delays when people are already throwing bricks at your client." Graelyn shuffled her feet."Now then, you two are both ready for this trial then? Do you have opening arguments? Because please, I'm a sucker for opening arguments. Gets my gears all in a tizzy.""Yes we do, your honor." Said both lawyers."Excellent. Then we'll begin with the prosecution. Miss Thomas?" Marissa stood up."Thank you your honor. As you're well aware, there has been much debate as to who the woman we are putting on trial is. I have no doubt the defense will argue that this is an entirely different person from the Graelyn Scythes who committed atrocities, and that we should hold her wholly uncountable for the actions of the character of the woman we know of as Graelyn Scythes, let alone that woman's action's. However, upon any careful analysis, we can determine that if these are two different women, if, then they hold remarkably similar traits. For example, a history of lies and distorting the truth to protect herself.""Objection!""Overruled, for now. Continue Miss Thomas.""Along with this, we have the issue of participating in the Prison break of a month ago, as well as the attempted assassination of Alice MacLeod." Graelyn felt the camera on her, her skin itched. "Actions that the accused has not denied taking part in, simply denied the state's motivation for doing.""Objection, the prosecution is leading the court with the accusation that shooting Alice MacLeod was an 'assassination'. This term requires that the state's accusation's of motive are true to be accepted as a description of the event.""Sustained. Clerk, wipe that from the record." The Judicator looked at the cameras. "And you'd better remember, this is a court, not a game show. You're watching. But you aren't playing from home. Continue, Marissa.""Thank you, your honor. In conclusion, over the course of this trial, we shall prove the intent of Graelyn Scythes to kill Alice MacLeod, as well as to prove that this woman is a danger to society. Thank you."There was some applause, but the Judicator silenced it in an instant."Now let me hear the defense." Jame rose from their seat."Thank you your honor. My client has withstood an incredible amount of vitriol thrown at her for crimes she not only did not commit, but had no reason to. The prosecution is right in saying I will assert that this woman is different from the Centro Systems Director of the same name, but is incorrect in saying that this is a moot point. The character of these two women could not be more different. As the court is aware, Graelyn Scythes helped save the life of Alice MacLeod, after she accidentally discharged a firearm at her.""Objection, now the defense is leading the court.""Sustained.""Apologies. We attest that the discharge was accidental. That Graelyn helped administer life saving care to Alice is an unquestioned point, and conflicts tremendously with the idea she has a defect of character. Over this trial we will prove that Graelyn's character is of sound quality, that she holds no responsibility for the actions of the other Graelyn Scythes, and that the weapon discharge on Alice MacLeod was accidental."There was some boring time filling, and then Marissa called her first witness."What are they going to open with?" Graelyn whispered."I'm not sure. They won't be opening with their strongest evidence though. They're going to try to tear your character down before they drop any bombshells.""I call as my first witness, Archimees Artemis VonAhnerabe." Most people didn't understand the relevance of what was just said, after all, they didn't know who Archimedes was. But Graelyn was shocked."He wouldn't have volunteered for this!" Graelyn whispered loudly."Of course not." Jame replied. "But he'll go on the stand nonetheless." Arch indeed looked fairly confused, but was escorted to the stand. He was offered a variety of texts to take an oath on, and chose a book of Greek Mythology, which was promptly pulled up on a tablet."Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth by your gods?""I do." He replied."We would like the court to be aware," Marissa continued, "that the Judicator is capable of telling whether or not you are lying.""Can it really do that?" Graelyn muttered."I'm not counting out anything today." Jame replied."Now, Archimedes, how did you meet Miss Scythes?""She rescued me when I fell in the ocean. Pulled me up into a big facility she was working in called Project Atlantis. I owe her my life. She reactivated me,""Excuse me." Marissa cut in, "But you say she reactivated you. Did she access your internal systems?""Yes, she did.""Now am I correct in thinking that your memories can be electronically accessed?""Yes, I have an access port for data exchanges.""Did she access that.""Yes, though I don't see how that's relevant.""Archimedes, how do you know she didn't access your memories?""She did access my memories." There was a rumbling through the court, the Judicator quieted it."Oh? Really. You're certain of it.""She told me so herself to apologize for it. It was an accident?""An accident? To access someone's personal memories?""She didn't realize I was a person, she thought I was an automaton.""Archimedes, isn't it possible that she manipulated your memories when she was inside your systems?""She wouldn't do that.""But if she was inside your systems, she could have colored your perceptions of her. Erased how you really met. Doesn't it sound preposterous that she just found you at the bottom of the ocean? Doesn't it make more sense that your utterly bizarre story was a fabrication on her part? A way to get you on her side?""Uh, no, not to me.""But you admit its possible?""Its possible, but it didn't happen.""Could you know for certain it didn't happen?""...No."Jame rose up. "Objection, proving a possibility is not a fact.""Sustained." Marissa smirked. Jame knew she'd already gotten what she needed."Now, Mr. VonAhnerabe, you have a very distinctive design to your exterior. Are you aware who designed it?""Direc-er, Mister Salazar did. But not that Mister Salazar. One from-""An alternate, dimension, yes. Now, part of your surrender to the Revolutionary forces in New York involved consenting to a full physical inspection, correct.""Correct.""Now, I have many accounts from scientists claiming they have seen nothing like your design outside of one other inspection they have done. Are you aware of who they might be comparing you to?""No ma'am."Graelyn's eyes widened. "Jame, uh, I know what she's trying to do." Jame raised an eyebrow."I heard someone say that in this reality Graelyn Scythes interned with Manuel Salazar.""Yeah , so?"Marissa gestured for her aide to pull up a holographic display. The Hologram showed a scan of Arch's interior, as well as that of a man who Graelyn had seen before, in the apartment she'd entered. While he didn't show exterior signs of looking like Arch, the interior made it obvious, you didn't have to be a scientist to see that the new parts had been built and installed in the same manner."This man's name is Johnathan. Graelyn Scythes experimented on him, replacing parts of his body with enhanced mechanisms and biomodifications against his consent. The internal mechanisms appear to be of the same manufacture and design as the ones inside you, abet slightly more advanced. Now which seems more likely, that these nearly identical mechanisms were built by the same person, a person who needed your help to escape from revolutionary forces, or that this is just a co-incidence.""We're from an alternate reality, of course there are going to be similarities.""But how many co-incidences can there be? The surgeries performed on Johnathan were brutal and cruel. Many were performed without anesthetic, clearly the sign of an unstable and vicious person. His mouth was literally sewn shut at one point. Can you look me in the eye and tell me that this woman is not the same person?"Arch shifted his head towards her."Yes.""Even when she has been in your head, even when you know very well she could have altered your memories?""Yes.""No further questions."Jame rose up and walked to the witness box. They had planned on using Arch as a character witness, but with his reliability thrown into question, that was really out the window. Jame did their best, but there wasn't much to salvage from him, anything he said had the possibility of manipulation running under it. Jame sat down, and a note popped up on their tablet. Jame clicked it, and grunted."Well then. Alternating witnesses. It looks like the Judicator is well aware this is a show trial. I wonder what its playing at.""I thought it was like, the ultimate Justice machine. It seems sort of wishy washy.""Its playing a game with us. It wants to know something, I'm sure of it. Still, we're going to have to open strong. I'm playing this by ear at this point. We have a few minutes first." As she ended her sentence, another message popped up. Jame rubbed their brow."What is it?" Graelyn asked."Its from your old intern. She says she chatted up one of the aides to Marissa in the canteen, and managed to get him to brag that they have a tape of Alice Macleod leading her troops through the Mexico City facility. From her description... It sounds bad.""...How bad?""Bad enough that if they play it you won't walk out of this building alive even if you're declared innocent."Graelyn had lost her faith in systems at an early age. She knew that even if you were good, there was nothing that could protect you. She began to look for an escape route, but none seemed to present itself. The audience was filled with allies, the friends she had made here in her brief time in this universe. But protecting her might be their death sentence."I don't want to hurt anyone.""Don't you know you can never achieve anything unless you're willing to cut out your own heart?"It occurred to Graelyn that she had never had this many people on her side simply because they liked her. She saw her own friendship as a service, and she kept her friends by providing them with ample benefits. Her best friend in elementary school, Claudine, had been appeased by many phone calls and chats where Graelyn had taken advantage of her ability to multi task and taken notes on important points in the conversation while doing her homework. She would formulate calculated replies based on the trajectory of the conversation and say them. Claudine had considered her a very good friend before she'd moved away to St. Petersberg. But if she looked up, she could see Lizette waving down at her. Shona in her Red Pop stained uniform. She could see Manuel, Sarah, Arch... Hell even Alice who she'd shot. All of them were willing to defend her. Why? She had only caused them problems. She hadn't any of them but Manuel any sort of tangible benefit, or if she had it was nothing anyone else couldn't have given them. Why? Suddenly, one of the eye-lights on the Juicator turned off, and turned on again... "Did it just wink at me?" She thought.

Jame rose up, "Your honor, I call Alice MacLeod to the stand."There was a huge rumbling, not just in the court room, but across the world. People put down what they were doing, and friends texted each other to tell them to open up the feed. Alice walked to the stand, and sat down. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the true, by your gods?""I do." Jame approached the box."Now, Alice, explain your relationship to Graelyn Scythes.""Which one?" The rumbling grew up again, and the Judicator quieted it."Explain your statement.""Well, as the record shows, I executed Graelyn Scythes. Her body was tested, and it was definitely her. The corpse showed no sign of memory transfer, or being a duplicate. There is footage of the execution available on the record if you wish to play it?""Yes, I would." Jame replied. The footage played on the same Holoprojector that had previously shown Arch and Johnathan. It showed the whole chain of events, the revolutionaries bursting in, the Directors getting lined up and kicked out the windows with nooses around their necks... And a younger Graelyn running into the room confused. The confusion and horror on her face was monumental."The second Graelyn we encountered clearly had no idea what was going on. At first I assumed she was a duplicate.""But you don't think that now?""No, after several conversations with her, I have come to believe this second Graelyn is exactly what she says she is: a girl from another dimension." There was an uproar. If you want to imagine it, imagine you heard the person you respect the most going on an international broadcast, and declaring that ducks were actually aliens from Pluto."She can't be serious." A man in Liverpool muttered."She's lost it just like they said." A woman in Nairobi said.The Judicator even had trouble calming the court room down."I know it sounds ridiculous-""But its actually a totally reasonable suggestion." Said a new voice, loudly. Eyes turned around, and they focused on the back of the court room where two figures had appeared, both wearing hoodies with a pattern of a sun turning into a moon going down the hood and the spine. One wore shorts, the other a black blazer. One was a white man, the other a Latino woman. They were both wearing sunglasses, indoors. You couldn't escape the perception that they were really full of themelves right now."Hello there," the man said, "Sorry to interrupt the proceedings but we have some pretty important new information we thought you guys should hear.""Security!" A memeber of the Revolutionary Council yelled, and the man just gave a lighthearted dismissive wave."Aw shucks, we're not worth that much attention.""But we do need your attention." The woman added."Oh yeah, definitely.""Also we've made sure your security isn't really an issue for us right now." They couldn't have all been there before, but they were there, so they must have been there the whole time, but there were dozens of people in identical hoodies (with otherwise totally inconsistant dress) scattered throughout the room. Guards found themselves with people peering down their neck, their hands not quite at their weapons."Glad to see you made it." The Judicator said."You knew about this?" The WRC member yelled, who appeared to be Alice's Uncle."I didn't know about this, I guessed it." The Judicator said, "There was too much evidence of interuniversal interferance for there to not be some group involved in this."Precisely!" The man said."My name is Miranda Vice.""And I'm John Vice.""And we're here to demand the extradition of Graelyn Scythes and Archimedes VonAhnerabe into our custody." Ian Macleod approached the pair of them cautiously, edging past the other people in the row to the aisle."Extradition to where exactly?""Another dimension. Our headquarters.""Graelyn Scythes is on trial for crimes against Earth!" He yelled."Crimes for which the primary charge is that she is in fact, not from an alternate dimension." The Judicator said. Ian grimaced."I demand proof that you are who you say you are. We can't just believe you're really some... Preposterous group from another dimension. You're terrorists supporting Centro trying to dertail this trial." John sighed and looked at Miranda, who shrugged, and pulled out a black box with a red button that she pushed. Without delay, a swirling blue portal appeared in the center of the Aisle, and in its swirls you could see infinite possibiliites. You could see yourself, and friends you'd never had. You could see lost cats and holes you'd never get out of. There was everything thin those swirls. From that portal stepped a woman that Alice had seen before in a dream, a blonde woman with the side of her head shaved and the rest of her hair pulled to the other side. She was lean and muscular, tall and so flat chested it was easy to suspect she was wearing a binder. She was wearing the hoodie, but over it a distinctive brown jacket with a bold sun on the back. Behind her were a coterie of other coloful characters, a white woman in a poodle skirt and turtle neck with a katana on her back, a Potawatame man with powerful mechanical arms and a scar across his nose and under both his eyes, a pair of identical Mongolian twins who had glowing crystal slabs in their hands they seemed to be inspecting, a black man whose movements seemed too fast, as though he were on fastforward, and a very bored Indian woman who looked like she was just there cause the woman in the front had asked her to.The woman in the front advanced. Her eyes looked forward like lances."I'm Kinan Jans. I'm the leader of Dawn, the organisation that these operatives are a part of. I demand an immediate stay of this trial and to meet with your World Revolutionary Council at the shortest possible notice." Ian's eyes were golf balls. "As a representitive of the WRC, I welcome you to Earth, Kinan Jans." Alice MacLeod said, vaulting over the box."I think this trial is officially on hiatus." The Judicator said, smugly. It pounded it's gavel. Graelyn rose. Was this really happening."Graelyn." Kinan said to her, "It is my intention to extradite you from this plane of reality immediately after negotiations are complete. I suggest you send someone to get your things." Graelyn nodded dumbly.Kinan and her troupe were led into another room, as the two Vice's made snapping finger pointing motions at Graelyn. This was ridiculous. They couldn't just end the trial could they?Her heart pounded. She'd expected to die. But the pieces began to fall into place. The box with the sun on it from the woman Alice had met. The people she'd seen with Hoodies. The man in the dark robe who'd tried to stop Director Aril from making the portal to begin with. This wasn't an isolated incident. This was part of something larger, wasn't it? They were going to a lot of effort to find her, they had sent people to her multiple times.This wasn't the end. This was just the start of something new. But how strange was it to leave her own fate to people in another room? For a moment she'd felt like a protagonist, like even if she died things were about her. But she hadn't been in control here at all, it was all out of her hands, and a peaceful sense of unimportance washed over her. She was small in the end after all. She could be forgotten at the bottom of the ocean again perhaps. She just had to get out of here. With a gesture, Alice called her and Arch into the room with the delegations.

The WRC and the representatives from Dawn took a few hours to discuss her fate. "May I remind you," Kinan said, "That we provided you with the Alistair Artificial Intelligence that allowed this revolution to succeed. Let me guarantee you that failing to meet our terms would cause immediate hostilities from my organization. We built your revolution, we can just as easily burn it down.""We aren't partial to threats." Council leader Pauline Lamarque noted."We aren't partial to people threatening to execute our friends." Kinan said."You have met Graelyn before?""Yes, but she hasn't met us. Its complicated, naturally." Kinan crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair."You met me before?" Graelyn said."I didn't, the Vice family did." Kinan replied, "But I suppose you'll do that all in time as long as we save your life.""I don't entirely understand," Arch broke in, "If you can travel between alternate realities... Why do you care about saving both of us at all?" Kinan bobbed her head back and forth lightly."Good question. This wasn't the first reality you appeared in, correct?""No, we traveled through several other ones first, briefly.""What about a reality where you walked through a room full of corpses on a space-station?" Graelyn nodded. "That was reality.""Excuse me?" Graelyn said."Could I explain?" Miranda asked. Kinan nodded."Look, there are tons of alternate realities, an infinite number, but travel between them was impossible. But not that long ago, something happened and it bound around ten-thousand realities to one other one. Or maybe we were all created in that moment, it doesn't matter. That central reality is feeding of us, and is slaving us to it in the process This little bubble of alternate realities is dying, and so is the reality that is feeding off of us. We need you to go back to that reality." Graelyn looked around at the representatives from Dawn. They all looked so serious. The World Revolutionary Council looked astounded."Can you take Arch and I home?""Yes. If you do what we ask of you." Kinan answered."Go to... This alternate reality that is apparently not alternate and is in fact our parent or something and do what exactly?""What we ask you to.""And why can't you go there yourselves?" Alice cut in."Because," Kinan answered, "We can't get into that Prime Universe. We've been trying. We only have one agent in that universe, and we haven't been able to get her to interact with the universe outside of its present." The woman with the poodle skirt waved. It suddenly hit Graelyn that she had seen her on the deck of that spacestation as she'd fallen through the portal."Oh." Graelyn said simply. "We are of course willing to trade some good to your government in exchange for their release to us."Lamarque pursed her lips. "I appreciate that. Though I'd appreciate it more if I thought we had any choice in the matter.""Your appreciation isn't necessary." Kinan answered.

The Salazars had gotten all of Graleyn and Arch's few possessions together, as well as packed them a few travel supplies. Graelyn met them in the lobby of the courthouse, where a cadre of revolutionary guards were staring off a bunch of hoodied Dawn members."I packed you a sandwich." Lizette told her. "I hope you like it."Graelyn smiled as she squatted down to hug her. "I'm sure I'll love it." Lizette squeezed her hard."Keep practicing the piano. I hope to see you again soon.""Me to." Lizette said, and held the hug for a few more moments before letting go.Shona came forward next, "You guys take care of yourselves. Try not to get put in jail again." Arch and Graelyn chuckled, and hugged her to."Try not to get hit by any more cups of soda."Manuel approached when they'd cut their embrace. "You two brought us all a new future here you know.""No, we didn't do anything that important." Graelyn said."Of course we did, you were amazing." Arch said."He's right you know. I'm alive because of you. Nojpeten is alive and vibrant, my children and grandchildren will live without the hate of seeing their grandfather hanging from a noose, and Sarah is with us now to. You're part of our family now to, whenever you're here.""What?" Graelyn said, looking around confused, "You can't really mean that.""Of course I mean that.""Thank you." Arch and Graelyn each said, and he shook their hands. Finally, Alice came up."Hey." She said."Hey. Graelyn replied, then after a pause, "I'm so sorry." Alice gave her a faint smile, and leaned in. Graelyn flinched for a moment, and Alice stopped. "Is it okay if I give you a hug to?" Graelyn nodded, and Alice wrapped her arms around her."You didn't just save Manuel. You saved me." She whispered in her ear."I shot you. I didn't save you at all.""Yes you did. You didn't mean to shoot me... You didn't, I know that. And I was about to kill someone for the wrong reasons. I might have crossed a line I couldn't go back from... Can you understand that?""Yes." She whispered back."You'll always be welcome here. Maybe public opinion will be a bit confused for a time, but you'll be welcome with me.""Have you taken good care of the cat?""I have, and I will.""Good." They broke the embrace."I..." Graelyn looked around at the people, all these people who believed in her, who wanted her here. She couldn't find the words. She didn't know what to say. They were smiling at her."Thank you." She settled on that."Sorry again about shooting you with a missile." Alice said to Arch."Oh, no problem," he said. "I was fine." They laughed, and as they did, a stern looking Kinan walked towards them followed by the Vice family."Its time to go. Are you ready?" Graelyn looked at Arch, and they nodded to each other."We're ready." Arch said."Then follow me.""Wait-" Alice said "I... I'd like to come to." Graelyn hadn't seen that coming."Not this time." Kinan replied, "You're needed here whether you see it or not. Come Graelyn, Arch, you're free now. Its time for you to see wonders."Graelyn followed her out the doors of the courthouse, where revolutionary guards and Dawn members lined the road. A huge crowd swarmed around them."How are we leaving?" Arch asked. Kinan looked back, and there was a sparkle in her eye as she gave a snap of her fingers, and a swirling blue portal seemed to rise out of dust on the ground.

Graelyn didn't hesitate. She ran. She pulled the hair tie out of her hair and began to move. The wind moved through her hair, and blew it around. The crowd's mouth's moved, but she didn’t hear them. She was free. She was out of this. And she ran, the smile growing on her face, her legs like sunshine. There was something amazing on the other side of that portal, and her heart beat in her chest. She hadn't needed to flee. She hadn't needed to die. She hadn't needed to jump. She hadn't needed to fight. She needed to live. She needed to smile. The crowd's opinion was irreverent. They were her orchestra as her feet passed her through the blue swirls, followed quickly by the tramp of Arch's metal toes, and she stepped into a place where her heart beat might be hers alone, and the skies were not the color of sacrifices. She ran and ran, and for the first time, there wasn't a trace of fear. For the first time, she forgave herself for her own mistakes.And oh, did she run.

"Run fast for your mother run fast for your fatherRun for your children for your sisters and brothersLeave all your love and your longing behind youCan't carry it with you if you want to surviveThe dog days are overThe dog days are doneCan't you hear the horses'Cause here they come" -"The Dog Days are Over" by Florence and the Machine

Next week: How is Alice doing now that she has her Universe to herself? Find out as Alice gets her own spin off story!

Art by Annie Zhu, Story by James WylderAuthor's note: 14 weeks of straight 10kd, its been pretty crazy. Its for that reason Annie and I are going to take a brief hiatus after Chapter 15. Er, more like Annie is because during that hiatus you're still going to get a 10kd bonus story every week featuring some of the other characters from the story! Right now the Hiatus schedule looks like this:Oct 22nd: Alice "Songbird" MacLeod StoryOct 29th: "Knights and Dragons" StoryOct 31st: 10,000 Dawns Halloween Special, art by Annie ZhuNov 5th: The Adventures of Mister Sprinkles the Cat SequelNov 12th: Jame Morrel StoryNov 19th: (return to normal schedule) 10,000 Dawns Chapter 16Wait whats that-- a Halloween special!?!? Yeah, so that's going to be a thing! Graelyn and Arch will return on Halloween with a stand alone story for you to enjoy. In many ways this Hiatus is actually exciting, as you'll get to see the universe through other character's eyes for a month. Still, next week is Chapter 15, and that's going to be a wild ride in itself! Happy Reading,​-James

Chapter 14: I Dream of Judicator

The Cat wouldn't stop meowing. Alice moaned and reached out to the cat, which was sitting next to her pillow on the bed. She patted it like it was an alarm clock she was mashing the snooze button on. The Cat, Captain Fudgesickle, didn't seem to take the remotest notice of having his head smooshed or booped, and just kept meowing. Cursing a bit under her breath, Alice got up, went over to the cat food bowl, poured out a bunch of food without measuring it, and shambled back to her bed where she collapsed. The crunching of the dry cat foo lulled her to sleep again.

Then she dreamed. She was standing on top of the Pyramid at Nojpeten, and Graelyn was throwing toy stuffed giraffes at her."I'm sorry!" Graelyn said with every throw. The Giraffes splattered her with blood whenever they hit her, and she pulled out her own giraffe and threatened Graelyn with it.She looked down and saw the bullet holes across her chest, and looked up, to see Graelyn dropping the gun. "Oh." She heard herself say as she dropped to the ground. She could feel herself slipping away from the Earth.Alice was an Asatru, and worshiped Thor, his hammer hung around her neck, and as she bled out she had wondered if she'd go to Valhalla. She wondered it in the dream to, but this time, she saw the Valkyries coming down from a crack in the sky.But they weren't... Normal Valkyries. They had blue skin, no visible orifices, and their legs hung limply under their bodies as they floated down. Lightning seeming to zip between them.

"You have done well, Alice MacLeod." She heard Thor say, and sat up to see him at a green felt table playing cards with Jesus, Horus, David Bowie, Artemis and Kali. Graelyn was now their waiter, serving them all drinks."Just water." Said Jesus, and was served a sparkling clear glass of it that he then took a sip of wine from.""Mead for me!" Thor said, and was given a big mug."I'll take what the big guy had." Said Bowie."Wine." Said Horus, Artemis, and Kali together."Right away!" Said waiter Graelyn, and jumped off the side of the building, only to reappear with the drinks."What's going on?" Alice asked Thor."Well, I'm about to win this hand." Said Thor."He always says that." Kali added, revealing her cards and winning the hand. Thor laughed jovially as she did so."Am I dead?""No, not yet. But we're all here to give you a warning. Aha, this time I have it for sure!" Thor added, right before he lost the hand to Artemis."What kind of warning?" Alice asked, she rose to her feet, and realized that the blue things she'd thought were Valkyries were all over the sky now."They're warning you about me." She heard a woman say. Alice looked over, and she was not looking at the roof of the pyramid, but across a vast crystal road that seemed to be filled with sand sitting in an infinite blackness. She looked back, and was looking at the card table on the rooftop again. She got a headache even in her dream. She was looking away from Alice, wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled down with a pattern of a sun turning into a moon running down the spine, a pattern identical to the hoodies on the people standing in a V-formation extending away from her, with the hoods pulled up. The woman turned her head, she was blond, with her hair along one side of her head shaved off and the rest of her chin length hair combed to the other side. Alice didn't recognize her."And you should be warned about me," she continued, "I'm the Architect of anyone's wildest dreams." She looked back at the Gods, who had set their cards down. They spoke to her in unison."You've stepped into something you never imagined."She felt the woman's breath on her neck."And Graelyn Scythes and Archimedes VonAhnerabe are ours."

Alice woke up sweating, with a jolt. The cat came up to her, looking worried, and sat on her lap. She reached down and stroked it. It was just a dream after all, a weird one, but just a dream. Picking the cat up in her arms, she decided it was time to get up anyways. She put on a playlist, and listened to "Las Baricadas" as she made herself breakfast, and caught up on the news as she ate a fried egg on toast with orange juice. Things were surprisingly calm. A few weeks had passed, and Graelyn was loitering in prison with cushy visiting privileges. Archimedes was largely spending his time vising her, but otherwise was volunteering with helping rebuild in different communities. He was stronger than some moving machines, and had made the news for rescuing a child from a bomb collapsed building who had been presumed dead. His mask hid his expression from her, and from everyone, but he seemed genuine. It had taken a full week to fix the damage to him however, as his cyborg biology was intricate and complicated, so she supposed it must feel good to be out and about, even if it meant lifting large slabs of concrete.Alice however, kept having the nightmare. Graelyn's shocked face as she realized she'd fired the gun. The gun dropping out of her hands. The realization she'd been shot. She didn't blame Graelyn for what had happened, but Alice had had some trouble leaving the apartment recently. Even though it could be a little snot, she was grateful for the cat living with her, as she always found it calming to stroke, and it seemed to respond to her when she needed it. Getting up from the breakfast table, she looked at the door, and went to sit back down. Her chest still hadn't fully healed, probably because she wasn't resting enough, and as she ran her fingers through her hair, she leaned forward and felt an ache run through her. She didn't moan, didn't scrunch her face up, just took the pain and accepted it in her world.The doorbell rang. She ignored it. It rang again."Alice its Jack." She got up, slowly, and opened the door up. Jack looked tired."Hey Jack, come on in." She gestured to the table. "Want some tea?""Yeah, sure." She filled the kettle up, and flicked the switch on it. It heated the water in seconds, which she poured into two cups with tea bags in them, and handed one to Jack."Thanks." He said, setting the hot cup down."We've got a pretty big problem." Jack started."When don't we?""Graelyn's trial is getting fast tracked, obviously, but its complicated."Alice sighed, "How much more complicated could it get? It was already complicated.""No Judge who will accept the case is considered unbiased enough. If we chose a Centro Judge, this will be seen as a choice to let her off the hook. There will be riots. If we chose a Judge from the Revolution, it will be seen as a show trial, and there will be riots. Mars has offered to let us use one of their Judges, but there are enough people from the revolution and ex-Centro forces who don't trust the Martian Communists that this could become a wedge issue for them and allow them to form a coalition using anti-outsider sentiment. There really is no good choice here." Alice looked up at the ceiling. This was so needlessly complicated. No wonder the council had wanted to kill all the Centro Directors and get it done with."Why were we able to get away with pardoning Manuel then?""Because he saved your life, and already had a populist following. Pardoning him looked good to nearly everyone, with those against it such a small minority most of them have publicly agreed with it anyways just to save face. Graelyn admits to shooting the hero of the revolution, that Manuel saved. She's in hot water." Alice had tried so hard to not have charges pressed, but it wasn't her call. Her father's brother Ivan, in the end, had been the one who had come out the strongest in favor of trial (though he'd started at execution). He'd played at being this about his niece being shot, but she knew very well it didn't actually have much if anything to do with that. Alice slammed her head down onto the table and let out a soft moan."Er, are you okay.""I'm having the best day of my entire life, clearly.""Did you sleep last night?" She rolled her forehead back and forth on the table to shake her head no."I'm still having the Nightmares. I have another therapy session today, so you don't need to worry about it." Jack nodded. He didn't look like his concern had ebbed."Tonight's was different though... Jack, do you remember how I told you I got Alastair, the AI box we used to take down Centro's defenses?""The weird Miranda lady, yeah.""Who in the Raggedy-Ann solar system did she work for?" She asked into the table."I don't know." Jack admitted."I don't either." Alice replied, "But I have a dream of who it could be."Jack didn't know what to say to that."You're scheduled to see Johnathan today." Alice lifted her eyes up from the table, and she wondered again if forgiving Graelyn was the right choice.

Johnathan sat on the park bench, and threw seeds to the birds. His nurse watched him closely. He did every action intently, and the seed throws were done with a precision that seemed not so much practiced as horrendous, like watching a badly made anamatronic try to imitate a person. His lips had been unsewn, but he was still nonverbal. The modifications to his body had been so intense, figuring out how much of his body had been replaced would be more invasive than it would be useful."Johnathan, you're going to have a visitor today. Do you remember Alice?" He nodded. "She's coming to see you. Isn't that exciting?" He threw some more seeds to the birds. Three seeds landed in front of each bird, in a perfectly triangular shape. The previous throw had been five seeds forming the corners of a pentagon. The Nurse knew it had to be intentional. Down the path she saw Alice coming towards them, she wasn't wearing military clothes today, just jeans and a tshirt with a loose jacket over it. A Thor's hammer hung from her neck."Here she comes!" Johnathan looked over at her. She didn't accelerate, just kept the same pace till she reached him."Hey Johnathan. Are you doing well?" He nodded."Can you speak at all yet?" He shook his head."Sorry to ask then." He shrugged. She sat down on the other side of him on the bench. "I'm not here to see how you're doing today, to be honest. I figured I'd be upfront about that." He made a few signs with his hands. Alice looked up at the Nurse."He said: I'm glad you're not leading me on. I like that you're straight to the point.""I didn't know you could sign Johnathan!" He signed back."He says: I didn't know I could either. I think it was installed in me." Alice frowned."You mean, like software?" He nodded. The idea of a person having having things installed in their brain against their will like they were a machine was... Abominable."I'm glad that I know how to do this though, because it let me talk." The Nurse interpreted."I can image you would be. Johnathan, do you remember the woman who came into Graelyn's apartment about a month ago when we rescued you." He nodded."It was the one who looked like Graelyn Scythes." Alice tilted her head to the side. Her hair leaned with her."Why do you say 'looked like'?""Because..." He stopped signing, and seemed to focus very hard, Alice looked over at the Nurse, who put a hand on Johnathan's shoulder. He was trembling."Johnathan? Is this too much today?" He shook his head. After a moment, he resumed signing."Graelyn Scythes had a chip installed in me so she could control me remotely." The Nurse looked aghast when she said it. Alice looked like this was not particularly surprising."I'm sorry.""Its not your fault. This girl looked like Graelyn, but she was too young, and her hair was wrong. She didn't connect to my chip when she was near me.""You can sense that?" He nodded."Instantly." Alice looked out at the park. Someone was throwing a Frisbee at their dog, who eargly caught it, then dropped it to go smell something."The WRC wants you to testify at the trial. Specifically, they want you to testify for the prosecution."I'm not their pawn.""I know. You're no one's pawn." He threw another handful of seeds at the birds, which landed in front of each bird in a perfect square."Why did all of this happen?" The Nurse sounded sad as she said it, and not just in trying to imitate his tone."I wish I knew Johnathan." She held out a hand to him, and he grasped it tightly."I wish I knew..."

* * * *

Songbird escorted the lawyer through the prison, who was doing something on their tablet during the entire journey through the hallways. They didn't speak to each other. After all, technically Alice would probably be asked to be a witness for the prosecution, a role she'd be terrible at. She was wondering if she'd even get called up at this point.She opened the door to the room Graelyn would be meeting her lawyer, and opened the door. "Graelyn, your lawyer is here. Good luck.""Thanks, Alice." Graelyn said, with a faint smile. The lawyer looked between them weirdly, and walked in, with the door shutting behind them. The Lawyer wore a plain blue suit that was tightly fitted, with a purple striped tie that somehow matched it. They had stud earrings, and a black hair put up in tiny spikes. Their nails were purple and blue as well, and there were a pair of peircings on their lower lip. "Hi, I'm Jame Morrel." They held out a hand, and she shook it, "I'll be representing you.""How familiar are you with my case?" Graelyn asked."I've read all of your logged interviews, as well as all of those related to the case, and already read all of the relevant documents." Jame answered, and looke Graelyn right in the eyes."What we say in here is totally confidential. You aren't being recorded, and if you are we get a free retrial anyways." Jame continued, "So if you have lied about anything you need to tell me right now.""I have not lied." She replied."So, you honestly believe you are from an alternate reality?""I don't just believe that, I am from one.""I hope you understand that that defense isn't going to fly in court. No one is going to believe that outside of a few outside elements. Our best defense is you're a replicant or clone.""That's not the truth though." Jame sighed."What's going to get you off though? Being from an alternate reality sounds like a very bad cover story. Being a clone that thinks its from an alternate reality is the kind of thing that moves a jury."Graelyn nodded, "We know its a jury trial then?""No, we don't. They haven't decided nearly anything yet. Frankly its a mess. The WRC is in such a tizzy to prevent a crisis with this trial they're going to make one simply by virtue of inaction." Jame began looking through something on their tablet."Jame, why did you decide to be my lawyer?" Jame finished scrolling, and turned the tablet to face her."I haven't yet." On the screen was a picture of Graelyn, next to a picture of older Graelyn."Did you know I'd met this other Graelyn Scythes?""I did not.""She was an intolerable know it all, full of herself, and extremely condescending.""I'm at least not one of those things.""She never would have said that. I'm taking your case, and I'm taking it because everyone deserves to be treated fairly, even if they're a scheming puddle of rat pee."Graelyn puffed her cheeks out, and decided not to reply to that."I noticed you and Songbird seem almost congenial."Graelyn looked uncomfortable. "Shooting her didn't help that. Hence the almost.""You do realize that she had sworn publicly she'd personally execute Graelyn Scythes no less than 27 times?"Graelyn shook her head, "No I didn't.""Her hesitancy is our best case for you. The court will try to claim she is mentally unfit to make judgments right now, of course.""Of course.""And whatever happened in Mexico City is being kept a secret still, but they'll undoubtedly use it in the trial. Know what it is?"She shook her head, "No idea. Isn't that illegal though, to not submit evidence for you to see?"This time it was Jame's turn to shake their head. "Not in this trial. They haven't written a full legal code the WRC can agree on yet, and so they're getting away with playing fast and loose with some of the rules at the moment. The WRC isn't all communist, they're an amalgamation of Commies, socialists, anarchists, and a small number of democratic republicans who just want a return to non-corporate government but are still capitalists. They're scheduled to work out a new constitution in Oslo in two months, and let me tell you, I'm buying a ticket there just to watch the verbal fireworks."Graelyn stretched her hands out in front of her."Who did you support in this war anyways? You don't seem like, well, the people I've met from either side."The Revolution of course." Jame replied. "I like having civil rights, for some strange reason, but I'm also a pragmatist. I'm not going to idealize the mess that is the WRC. They weren't ready to win this war so fast, and they're still scrambling."Graelyn smiled, she liked this person. "Thank you for agreeing to see me.""Don't thank me. Thank Songbird. She's the one who called me." Graelyn's jaw dropped."You can't be serious.""I'm the best you can get. I'm glad you shot someone who likes you."

* * * *

Alice slipped back under her covers. The cat curled up on top of her. They were finally starting to get along. The nightmares had drawn them closer together, and as much as she wished she'd never gotten them, she was grateful they'd at least done that. She drifted off into dreams again, as she had the night before.

She was standing in a desert, that was new, and there was a storm encroaching behind her. She began trying to outrun it... But the sand started falling away from underneath her, the ground falling away into infinity. She saw that some of it was holding firm, so she scrambled hard for it, and reached it just as the wind blew the rest of the landscape away. She shielded her eyes, and when she uncovered them, she was on the same crystal path she had seen the previous night, filled with sand. The world around her was dark, aside from a shining orb that looked like a moon... Or was it a sun?"You're here again. Good. I wasn't sure if you would be."Alice looked behind her. There was that woman again. She was still facing away from her. This time she only had a pair of other people in hoodies with her, one on either side of her, a step back and facing away. One had on a black sport-coat over the hoodie, the other wore shorts. The woman was wearing a long brown coat over her hoodie this time, with the sun/moon symbol emblazoned on the back. "Who are you?" She tried to stand up, but it felt like her shins were glued to the path."If this is just a dream, and isn't real, why does it matter?" She replied. Alice looked around, it looked awful real."Is this a dream?""Of course its a dream. But we're dealing with concepts outside of humans. Humans aren't supposed to travel between other realities, correct? We aren't supposed to do lots of things, so lets just say that when you've broken one so-called rule, there are ways to break others. This is the last time you'll see us in your dreams however. You should have known the bargain we made had more strings than it seemed on the surface.""I don't want Graelyn to die. I truly don't. I've been trying to help her.""That's funny, but I believe you nonetheless." She turned her head so Graelyn could see one of her ferocious blue eyes."You and Manuel Salazar were supposed to die, but you both lived. You changed the game.""You changed it by giving me that box.""True. But I've done this before. You're only one reality.""There really are multiple realities? Graelyn isn't... Brainwashed?""Of course there are. Don't be silly. You're not the first Alice MacLeod I've dealt with, and you won't be the last. Keep Graelyn safe. I'll do the rest.""Why do you need Graelyn so badly then? Can't you just... Get another one?" She narrowed her visible eye at Alice."No. But that's enough of that. Dawn is coming, you might want to wake up."Alice's eye's opened with a snap, the sun was shining softly through the window.

* * * *

Alice winced through her teeth, the bandages would probably have to be changed again soon, and it would only sting worse then, but she was alive and that was what was important. Graelyn Scythes was another matter.“We have a problem.” Alice began, “We need the trial of Graelyn Scythes or her double to begin soon, but we haven't settled on a new legal code. If we give her a military trial through the Revolutionary Army, we'll likely lose the support of the population of the planet who were Centro supporters we've managed to quell, and we'll have another set of uprisings on our hands. However, if we try her under a Centro judge, we'll lose the support of several groups internally, and likely have to fend off a coup. This is difficult, and I need your feedback.The group around her she could trust, these were people she'd fought beside for years. Jack, Chantelle, Eve, Roxanne, Trevon, Yi, Gerald... The group sat around the table silently at first, a few of them gave support for siding with one idea or another, but neither side could make any particularly strong arguments either way.“I have a suggestion.” Chantelle said after some time. All eyes turned to her.“Its uh, kind of unusual though.”“Please, we need unusual.” Chantelle squirmed in her seat.“My dad told me a story once, of something Heirum J. Whitehead build before Centro shut him down and he fled to Mars... An automaton that could make legal decisions with total impartiality.”“We've all heard of it,” Trevon cut in, “but its just a myth.” Chantelle shook her head.“Its not a myth. My dad used to break into old buildings to see if there was anything he could scrap or sell for more food for the family. Centro didn't care if the place was considered not worth salvaging, so he was never in danger of losing his real job. One night Dad decided to break into the old Talinata Softworks building. He didn't find much he could break into, the place was clearly larger than the inside looked, but it was sealed up pretty tight. He did find what he said was a hidden door.... And under it a robot. Covered in cobwebs, He started walking towards it... And then the lights of its eyes turned on and it raised its head!” Yi gasped, but Jack looked decidedly unimpressed. “Naturally he ran out of the building as fast as he could.”“Nice ghost story, but we need more than that.” Jack said.“Now now Jack, there is nothing we lose by checking it out. Since we don't have any other leads, I'd say its time to go to Talinata Softworks. Where is it located?”“The former province of New Jersey.”Alice squinted at her, “I've never heard of New Jersey. Is it like New York?”Chantelle shook her head, “I don't think you want me to take the time to explain New Jersey.”

* * * *

The VTOL landed in front of the abandoned headquarters of Talkinata Softworks, the sign labeling the building as suck had fallen about half a foot from its mooring on one side, and swung gently in the breeze."This is the place." Chantelle noted. Alice gestured for the the troops to hop out and using hand signals gave instant orders about their positions and team roles. Alice took point, and rifle in hand, approached the front door where Trevon was already working the systems. The doors snapped open, and she smiled at him to indicate his good work. She stepped through the door. "H-h-h-hello visitors and welcome to T-t-t-Talinata softworks! I'm WeN-D, and I'll be your guide today won't that be fun?""Uh, is this normal commander?" Yi asked. Alice shrugged, she really didn't know."Hello, WeN-D, I'm Alice. We're looking for the Judicator." She looked up at the ceiling as though the ceiling was somehow the disembodied voice of WeN-D's face."Oh gosh, I'm so glad you asked, no one ever asks usually they just ignore me and try to break things!""Well, can you help us find the Judicator then?""Oh gosh! I can't actually, if it exists, it would be classified and I can't tell you about classified things." Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes."WeN-D," he began,"Its the year 2495, correct? from the current year, wouldn't you assume that everyone who gave you your orders is currently dead?There was a pause."That's no reason to break the rules!""Oh, Thor's thundering hammer." Alice cursed, and made a gesture to begin a search sweep."Oh, you're just going to look around then. I see how it is." Alice rolled her eyes at the AI.After a few minutes of searching, Chantelle called them over to a place where there was a thin line on the floor."This is where my dad said it was." Alice nodded, and looked to Trevon, who got to work. Trevon was a man of few words, but he was damn good at what he did. He silently scanned the floor, felt around it, mapped out where its points were, and then applied careful pressure to different areas, which was immediately followed by a rectangle on the floor rising up a few centimeters to reveal a handhold on its side, which Alice and Trevon pulled up together, revealing a stairwell. "Jack, take point. Lets find out whats down there." Jack nodded, and turning the light on his rifle on, began walking down. It was dark and cobwebby, so he took the brunt of clearing a path. When he reached the bottom, he called back "well there's something down here. They rushed down to follow him. Jack's light shone on a humanoid droid of minimalist design sitting on a chair that more resembled a throne. A plaque behind it stated: "The Judicator: Permanently deactivated for being too good at its job.""Well, no one was bitter about this guy getting turned off." Yi quipped. Alice breathed in the dusty air, and walked close to it. Did it still work?"Hello, Judicator? Can you hear me? We need you for a trial."For a moment, there was silence, and the dust floated gently through the beams of light.Then, its hand twitched.

The Judicator rose, its pistons falling into place, and the glowing blue rectangles it had for eyes taking the world into focus. The Judicator only needed one look to understand the nature of the people who were approaching it, because the Judicator was made to understand these things. It went over to a rack on the wall, its legs making a squeaking screechy sound, and pulled off a robe it slipped into like clockwork. The Judicator wore a robe made of 100% double-ply Cashmere wool dyed a black so dark you might think it turned the lights off if you stared at it too long. The Judicator turned back to them like it owned the room, and hell maybe it did. You might have judges who had read the law of your country, but the Judicator had read the law of every country in history. You might have judges who form a decision based on weeks of testimony and careful work through of the information through their synapses, but the Judicator had ten trillion microprocessors that each made the machines that sent humans to the moon look like a 1991 textbook that hadn't realized the USSR had fallen. The Judicator had two eyes, but it only needed one because with double layer infrared scanning and the ability to see more colors than a Mantis Shrimp let alone a human it was already outpacing you even if its depth perception wasn't so keen it could eyeball a distance with more precision than you measure your bank account. The Judicator didn't have time for your petty disagreements, it's already figured out who is objectively right and wrong. The Judicator won't put up with your legal loopholes, it will crack you open with an understanding of the legal code so thick you could pour it like concrete to make your new jail cell. The Judicator cared about justice. You couldn't bribe it at parties, or make it take out a vendetta or prejudice on someone: it would spit your inequalities back at you like a hurricane. The Judicator was the last and final say on the law, and you'd damn well respect him or God help your soul whether you passed the bar or not.

“I represent the Revolutionary Government of Earth.” Alice said. The Judicator held up a finger. Its eyes blinked for a few seconds. Alice guessed he had found the wifi.“I see. A lots happen since I got turned off.” It dusted itself off like a few hundred years of dust was no big deal.“A lot has changed since you've been turned off.”“Justice is never turned off.” The Judicator said. “Well then, we have a case for you to try. Someone we don't think we can try fairly.”“Then I'm your droid. Just give me some WD-40 and the complete case documents.” “Excuse me,” Jack cut in, “are you sure you are ready for this? You've only just been reactivated.”“I know what I'm about, son.” The Judicator. Swirled its robe as it headed for the door, making the rest of the group hustle to keep up with it. The case was on.

Next week: The Trial of Graelyn Scythes. Will Graelyn be freed? What will the Judicator do? Find out as this story arc hits a conclusion!

Chapter 13: An Aftermath of Coverage

Image: We see several figures standing in front of a large backdrop with the WRC logo on it. Most of these people are members of the Council itself, an international body of the most important people throughout the world's revolution. We recognize some of these people: Alice MacLeod is there, clearly still recovering from her injuries, one of her arms in a sling, and a stiffness around her belly that one could assume comes from many bandages. Maria Salazar is also there on stage, and when the camera cut to the crowd for reaction shots we can catch other familiar faces: Jack, Chantelle, Shona, Trevon, Yi... The surprise on the stage is Manuel Salazar, who was formerly under a kill or capture order. A mixed race woman we haven't been introduced to before, the leader of the WRC, Pauline Lamarque, steps forward to much applause.

Pauline: Thank you. (She gestures for the crowd to stop applauding. It continues.) Thank you very much. (The crowd dies down slowly, and then finally drops off.)When this revolution began, we were prepared for a long fight. A war that would tear this planet apart at the seams. However, thanks to intelligence gained by Alice MacLeod, also known as the Songbird of Liberation, we were able to win this fight in not years, but in mere months. Such a quick turnover of the world is unprecedented in our history, and today we mark the official end of the conflict.

(There is a pause as more applause erupts, as well as a chant of "Songbird! Songbird!")

While the eradication of the leadership of Centro Systems was originally considered a certainty by us, the story of our world is malleable. Manuel Salazar has proved completely co-operative in assisting the medical needs of the world since turning himself over to the WRC, not to mention personally saved the life of Alice MacLeod after an attempted assassination.

Alice: That's n-(The crowd erupts in applause, drowning her out.)

Pauline: And so, from a grateful Earth, we present Manuel Salazar with an official pardon, as well as a position in the WRC to help shape our new socialized medical system.

(More applause, Manuel comes to the Microphone.)

Manuel: Thank you, thank you. I'll keep this short: our struggle is over. For those of you who loved the old world, do not clutch to it. Instead rejoice in the chance to build a new future. It may not be the one you expected, but it is the one you will live in. I pledge to create a new, free, medical system that will care for everyone on Earth, while continuing to push innovating medical technology. Thank you.

(He waves and steps away from the Microphone. There is more applause. The people on the stage wave. Let’s change the channel.)

Image: A man stands in front of an image of what looks like a factory, he is dressed nicely, and looks out of place in the industrial wasteland. He has a pin that labels him as part of a news agency.

Reporter: Hello, I'm Antwon Phillipe, here in Mexico City where the World Revolutionary Council is still refusing to say exactly what they have discovered inside this building. Earlier today, I managed to talk to some of the workers who are going through the facility

Image: We see four people sitting on the curb, all of them look disheveled. Each is wearing a hazmat suit, though their helmets have all been removed. One of them is crying, one is vaping.

Reporter (offscreen): Excuse me, Antwon Phillipe, Populi News. Could you tell us what the WRC is investigating in there.

(two of the people just keep staring off into the distance, oblivious. The reporter repeats the question)

Woman: You want a quote or something? I'll give you a quote: Graelyn Scythes is a bastard.

(Enough of that. What else is on?)

Image: We see a different reporter, this one a non-binary person. They are with Pauline Lamarque. We appear to have caught them in the middle of something.

Pauline: ...is difficult. After all the creation of a new government isn't a smooth process, especially on this scale. It’s certainly good to have Martian co-operation, but I can't say dealing with the Rim Crimelords has been any easier. If anything, they seem to want to exploit this situation more than anything.

Reporter: So you've talked with Premier Mashima?

Pauline: Oh, many times. I think our two worlds will finally be friends again.

Reporter: Now, on a different note, I'm sure you've heard the public outcry for the death of Graelyn Scythes.

Pauline: Of course.

Reporter: Can you confirm that she will be executed?

Pauline: She will be granted a fair trial, like anyone else. This case is more complicated than most people know.

Reporter: Could you explain that?

Pauline: I'm afraid not. There is a lot about this that is confidential. I'm sure you have heard Alice MacLeod's opinion on the matter.

Reporter: Many analysts say we can't trust her judgment, that she is suffering from survivor's guilt or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Pauline: I'm not going to put words in her mouth. She seems of sound mind to me, and she has said what she said.

Reporter: But-

(Wait, what did she say? Let’s scroll through the feed... No that video is just spam... Ah, there we go, lets pull this one up.)

Image: Alice MacLeod is inside an old tavern, she appears to be swigging from a big mug of mead with her good hand. We hear, but to not see, a third reporter, this one a woman. Her voice sounds nervous, as though she is rather new at the job, or maybe just slightly star struck.

Reporter: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me Miss MacLeod.

Alice: Its my pleasure.

Reporter: I've heard from people close to you that you didn't expect to survive the revolution. How does it feel to have come out the other side?

Alice: To be honest, it’s confusing. I've been preparing my whole life for the liberation of Earth, and now that its done... I don't know I'm sorry that doesn't really answer your question.

Reporter: That's fine, totally fine. Do you know what you'll be doing now?

Alice: Taking a break, first of all. I have some wounds to heal from and my friends have persuaded me it would be for everyone's best if I took time to recuperate. I actually tried to go back to work early, and passed out in the Council's planning room. (She laughs) I just can't stop can I? Anyways, I'm taking a lot of walks, seeing more of my parents then I've seen in years, and taking care of my cat.

Reporter: You have a cat?

Alice: Yes, it was given to me by a friend. I always hated cats, but I find this one rather personable. I wouldn't say it likes me, but we have a mutual understanding. (The reporter and Alice both laugh)

Reporter: That's cats for you!

Alice: Did you have any more questions Minh-Ho?

Reporter: Yes, you've been visiting a prison where high level prisoners are being kept quite frequently as of late.

Alice: I'm afraid I can't comment on that.

Reporter: Have you been visiting the woman who attempted to assassinate you, Graelyn Scythes?

Alice: I'll have you know that my injuries were accidental.

Reporter: Excuse me, but you were shot multiple times, that doesn't sound accidental.

Alice: It was. It was an accidental weapon discharge. Graelyn is innocent, and I'm trying to get the WRC to remove the charges against her.

Reporter: What? You can't be serious.

Alice: I'm utterly serious.

Reporter: The people of Earth want justice.

Alice: I gave them justice. I executed Graelyn Scythes personally.

Reporter: Then why is she alive?

Alice: Its not the same person. Minh-Ho, we have a chance to build a better Earth, and I will fight the execution of an innocent girl-

Reporter: Woman.

Alice: She's seventeen years old.

Reporter: That's not what the records state.

Alice: Girl. I will fight the execution of an innocent girl till the sun burns redder than I can assume my face is getting.

(Its pretty darn red. Alice gets up, and pays for her drink.)

Alice: I'm sorry, the interview is over.

(Well that sure was something. But enough of the news. We can cut anywhere into this universe, we're watching outside it like a sun watching its planet's rotate. So lets look through someone's eyes.)

Image: We see Graelyn Scythes, in prison garb again in a drab concrete room that is clearly a prison, sitting on a Piano bench. Next to her sits Lizette in a dress patterned with strawberries, and they are playing chopsticks. Graelyn takes her hands off the piano keys, as Lizette continues.

Graelyn: You're doing well.

Lizette: I can only do it when you do it.

Graelyn: You're objectively incorrect.

(Lizette looks over, and squeals as she realizes that she is actually playing the Piano all by herself. She plays the song in a few more loops and then stops, basically bouncing out of her seat on the piano bench.)

Lizette: Now you play something!

Graelyn: Oh, um. What do you want me to play?

Arch, offscreen: Play one of your favorites!

(Oh! We're watching from Arch's eyes. They are cameras after all. Its funny to be here, you'd think he'd be blinking but it never happens.)

Lizette: And sing it to!

(Graelyn looks back at Arch warily.)

Graelyn: You know, I haven't practiced piano in years, I'm pretty rusty. Are you recording this?

Arch: I record everything I see, its in my hardware.

Graelyn: Right. Well, here goes.

(Graelyn begins to play something, but then realized she is doing it wrong and starts over. It takes her a second to figure it out.)

Graelyn: This is one of my favorite songs. Its called "God Bless the Girl." by David Bowie.

Lizette: Are you the girl?

Graelyn: Sure. I can be the girl.

(She begins to play it and sing along. She isn't the greatest singer, but she does a decent job.)

Graelyn: Jackie loves her work, and her work is love-

Lizette: No, say your own name! You're the girl!

Graelyn: Okay okay. I'm the girl. But you have to help me sing the chorus if I'm going to be the girl. So when I say God Bless the girl, you say it back with me.

Lizette: Okay!

Arch: This is too cute.

Graelyn: What?

Arch: Nothing!

(Graelyn begins playing again.)

Graelyn: Graelyn loves her work, and her work is love, for there is no other.She says "God has given me a job!" Graelyn loves her work, there is no other.Graelyn's aiming for the stars, but landing on the clouds. There is no other.Sitting in her corner too afraid to run away, like a slave without chains.Wonder turns to danger, spring turns to winter-- God bless the girl! Now you.

Lizette: God Bless the girl!

Graelyn: But I will always treasure, treasure every single moment...

Graelyn and Lizette: God bless the girl!

Graelyn: Fire turns to water, light becomes darkness

Graelyn, Lizette, and unexpectedly, Arch: God Bless the girl!

Graelyn, now looking at Arch: And I don't want to hurt you, just wanna have some fun....

All together: God bless the girl, god bless the girl!

(Graelyn smiles broadly back at Arch, and proceeds into the instrumental middle of the song. They sing the rest of the song, so you can look it up if you're curious. But you get the point. It looks like this is a regular meet up for them all. Lets cut forward a bit then, Arch's eyes have to see a lot of things.)

Image: Alice and Graelyn are sitting at a table together, there is no partition between them, but you can see a pair of armed guards occasionally when Arch moves his head a certain way.

Alice: They aren't calling the trial off. I've tried my best, but the hardliners on the council are dead set on it. They're still bitter Pauline sided with me about pardoning Manuel. If we don't let the trial go forward, the Council will fracture and we'll likely have a civil war.

Graelyn: There is no question then, I'll be going to trial willingly.

Arch: You realize they'll kill you. You can't let this go forward.

Graelyn: I never wanted anyone to get hurt Arch. I...

(Graelyn cuts herself off, and crosses her arms.)

Arch: I could get her off-world, I know some places in the rim that have to still exist in this universe we could hole up in.

Alice: I have no doubts you could. But what would happen if she broke out? The new government would prove itself entirely unable to manage its own security. Just because we won the revolution doesn't mean the job is over... Really the hard stuff is just starting. Ugh. Politics. I never wanted to deal with them.

Graelyn: I'm staying arch.

Arch: I understand. I don't like it though.

Graelyn: I know.

Alice: I have no idea how we'll be able to find you a fair judge or jury though, it’s going to be nearly impossible.

Graelyn: I'm sure you'll come up with something.

Arch: So a "fair' trial is unlikely.

Alice: (she silently looks at Arch for a few moments.) Yeah.

(But let’s wrap up the world then? Two more feeds. Back to the news:)

Image: Crowds of people are cheering in the streets. It’s unclear what city. We cut, and see another city, and another, and another, and another... WRC members stand on balconies and wave. The world is at peace. A new world. The cameras show a piece of street art: an image of the dead faces of the Centro Directors composited next to each other. It’s gruesome, but this is a time for bloody things. Each of the faces has an X over it, but the last face is Graelyn's corpse, and next to it, a picture of a younger Graelyn being led into a prison. The caption? "We won't be fooled again."

(Now let’s end our tour of the media with something no one saw. But we can see it, like I said, our arms stretch everywhere, light shining into the deepest shadows. The footage is grainy, maybe no one knows this camera is here. It’s just our secret. So here we are, deep in the belly of the Index's secret base, where Chess Mistress Hex stands in front of a holotable. It has a grid pattern on it, with every square alternating between black and white. Nearby, eerily similar in appearance but cheerier is Alexis. Hex looks furious. It’s strange to see her furious, like her face is unfamiliar with pulling off the expression.)

Hex: What do you mean no one died?

Alexis: I mean, Mistress Hex, that the Songbird, Salazar, Salazar, Scythes, Sarah, and the Cyborg all survived their showdown in Nojpeten.

Hex: And why, praytell, haven't any of them died since then?

Alexis: The members of the council we have been bribing have expressed doubt you can truly manage the situation anymore. Salazar has been pardoned, and the WRC has agreed to grant Sarah amnesty on Earth since she can't return to the rim.

(Hex swipes an expensive looking teacup off the edge of the holotable. It breaks with a tiny crash and even Alexis flinches, her smile faltering.)

Alexis: And Graelyn Scythes is going to trial for shooting Alice MacLeod however, our sources can confirm that.

(Hex considers this, and her face returns to its usual passive but predatory smile.)

Hex: Good. Put a large bounty on Sarah, the kind that would make it worth the very best in the system's time. First class retirement money. That will at least tie that up.

Alexis: It shall be done Mistress Hex!

Hex: There’s still a way to salvage this situation, I’m just not seeing it. What have I missed?

(Hex begins to rub her temples. Alexis busies herself by getting her mistress a fresh cup of tea, setting a cleaning droid on the shattered mess on the floor. Hex’s eyes snap open.)

Hex: Graelyn said she came here from another reality.

Alexis: Yes she did, Mistress.

Hex: What if she wasn't the only person who has? If she could do it nearly on accident, it’s possible – no, probable – that someone else has been coming through. I planned everything out Alexis, the board was set... But what if someone slipped more pieces into the game?

(Alexis flashes an unsettlingly toothy grin.)

Alexis: That’s cheating. And we don’t take kindly to cheaters.

Hex: No... (She pulls up some images, and begins combing through them. She pulls up an image of a box with a sun and moon symbol on it.) This is an image one of our operatives got of the mobile AI that the revolution used to take down Centro's defenses. An AI I had never heard of before, with a logo and color scheme that the revolution doesn't use at all. Now why would that be, Alexis?

(Alexis shrugs, smiling as though she is very pleased she doesn't know.)

Hex: I thought I was whispering in the ears of both players... But someone else was rigging the game while I was maneuvering. It’s a shell game. (She does a search for more images of the sun/moon symbol. Several things come up, including a pin bought by a researcher in Guatemala centuries ago that seems to show construction techniques not possible during the period it dates from. There are also a few blurry pictures of a pair of figures: one in shorts and a hoodie, the other in a hoodie under a sport coat, their faces hidden in every shot. Hex stops skimming through the images, and appears to have a revelation. She looks around the room, turning slowly. Her eyes settle on the camera, on us. She begins to gently laugh. The laugh grows louder.)

Alexis: Was there a joke Mistress?

Hex: Brava, whoever you are. Good game. Well played.(Hex gets up and walks towards the camera, staring straight into it. We know each other now.)Hex: I look forward to the next round.

(We cut the feed. The image goes black. However long you linger on the image is up to you. It doesn't move, it simply stays black.

No, wait.

You wait, and for a moment, you feel like you see something writhe in the darkness.)

Next week on 10kd: Alice and Graelyn get ready for the trial, while the outsiders get ready to...